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A. S. BAENES & CO.'S PAMPHLE'I OE CAMPAIGN EDITION. 



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[The incidents narrated in this work are selected from the " Life akd 
Services of Gen. Winfield Scott," by E. D. Mansfield, Esq., a vohime of 
636 pages, to which the reader is referred, as a work of standard authority.] 



CONTENTS. 



PAOl 

Scott's Parentage — Education — Early Character — Entrajace 

into the Army 3 

Goes to the Niagara Frontier in 1812 4-5 

Battle of Queenston Heights, 13th October, 1812 5-15 

Scott attacked by the Indians 15-18 

Captured Irishmen — Scott's Interference in then: behalf — Their 

joyful Interview with him 18-22 

Capture of Fort George in May, 1813 — Events of the Cam- 
paigns of that year 22-34 

Formation of the Camp of Instruction at Buffalo— Opening of 

the Campaign of 1814 34-36 

Passage of the Niagara 36-38 

Battle of Chippewa 38-45 

Battle of Niagara — Scott wounded and disabled 45-52 

Scott's Journey from Niagara to Philadelphia — Is received at 

Princeton 52-56 

Public honors paid to Gen. Scott 56-63 

Gen. Scott's visit to Europe 63-64 

Black-Hawk War — Incidents and Scenes 64-81 

Gen. Scott's agency in suppressing Nullification in South 

Carolina 81-95 

Florida War 96-102 

Scott's agency in quelling the troubles on the Niagara Frontier 102-112 

Scott's labors in removing the Cherokees 112-122 

Gen. Scott's agency in settling the Maine Boimdary 122-127 

Gen. Scott ordered to Mexico 128-133 

Leaves the Rio Grande for Vera Cruz — Landing — Attack on 

the City and Castle 133-143 

March to the Interior and Battle of Cerro Gordo 143-149 

Entrance of the Army into Puebla— Turning Lake Chalco — its 

position on the 18th of August 150-156 

Mexican Defences — Battles of Contreras and Churubusco 15'7-1'70 

Battles and Entrance into the City of Mexico 170-178 

Results of the Campaign 179-181 

Return Home — His Reception and Honors 181-188 

Character of Gea Scott 188-191 

Appendix . - •.. lt'2 



I I 




GENEKAL WINFll^l-^D SCOTT. 



A, S. BARNES & CO/S PxiMPHLET EDITION. 
INCIDENTS TAKEN PROM MANSPIELD'S LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



^ 



LIFE 



V \ 



OF 




GEIEHAL ¥INFIELD SCOTT. 



COMMAKDEE-IN-CHIEF 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES ARMY. 



WITH ILLUSTEATIONS. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY A. S. B A PI N E S & CO., 

BOSTON': llEDDING &r CO. — PHILADELPHIA: PETERSON ic 00. 

BALTIMORE: BURGESS, TAYLOR, &; CO. CINCIKNATi: 

H. \V. DERBY Si; CO. NEW ORLEANS : J. B. STEEL 

AND SOLD BY BOOKSELLERS GENERALLY. 

1852. 



./ 






^'/^ 




MAP OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 



Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by A. S. BARNES & Co., in the Clerk'a 
Office of the Diitrict Coiut of the United Slates for the Southern Dislriat of New York. 



LIFE 



OF 



GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT 



SCOTT'S PARENTAGE. EDUCATION. EARLY CHARACTER. CHOICE 

OF A PROFESSION. ^ENTRANCE INTO THE ARMY. 

WiNFiELD ScoTT was borii the 13th June, 1786, near Peters- 
burg, in Virginia. His descent may be traced from a Scottish 
gentleman of the Lowlands, who, with his elder brother, was 
engaged, in the Rebellion of 1745. 

The particulars of his early education are not fully known ; 
but it seems that he was intended for one of the learned pro- 
fessions. He pursued the usual preparatory studies, and spent 
a year in the high-school at Richmond, under the teachings of 
Ogilvie, then quite a celebrated man. Thence, he went of his 
own accord to the College of William and Mary, where he 
remained one or two years, and attended a course of law lec- 
tures. He finished his legal studies in the office of David 
Robertson, a Scotsman, who had been sent out originally as a 
tutor in the family of Scott's maternal grandfather. At this 
time his character is described, by one who well knew him, as 
distinctly formed. He was full of hope, and animated by a 
just sense of honor, and a generous ambition of honest fame. 
His heart was open and kind to all the world, warm with affec- 
tion towards his friends, and with no idea that he had, or de- 
served to have, an enemy. 

In the summer of 1807, he volunteered, as member of the 
Petersburg troop of horse, that had been called out under the 
proclamation of the president, forbidding the harbors of the 
United States to British vessels of war. This was in conse- 
quence of the attack on the frigate Chesapeake. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



In May, 1808, through the influence of his friend and neigh- 
bor, the Hon. Wm, B. Giles, he received from the hands of 
President Jefferson, a commission of Captain of Light Artillery 
in the army of the United States. 




Jefferson presenting Scott his Commission. 



SCOTT GOES TO THE NIAGARA FRONTIER IN 1812. 

In July, 1812, Scott received the commission of lieutenant- 
colonel in the 2d artillery, (Izard's regiment,) and arrived on 
the Niagara frontier, with the companies of Towson and Bar- 
ker. He took post at Black Rock, to protect the navy-yard 
there established. 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS. 5 

Lieutenant Elliot of the navy had planned an enterprise 
against two British armed brigs, then lying at anchor under 
the guns of Fort Erie. For this purpose, he applied on the 
8th of October, 1812, to Colonel Scott, for assistance in officers 
and men. Captain Towson, and a portion of his company, 
were dispatched to the aid of Elliot. The attack was success- 
ful. On the morning of thg 9th, both vessels were carried in 
the most gallant manner. The " Adams" was taken by Cap- 
tain Elliot in person, assisted by Lieutenant Isaac Roach ; and 
the " Caledonia" by the gallant Captain Towson. In dropping 
down the Niagara River, the " Adams" became unmanageable 
through the occurrence of a calm, and drifted into the British 
channel. She got aground on Squaw Island, directly under 
the guns of the enemy's batteries, where it was impossible to 
get her off. Captain Elliot, therefore, having previously se- 
cured the prisoners, abandoned her under a heavy fire from the 
British shore. Then ensued an interesting and exciting scene, 
the British endeavoring to retake the abandoned brig, and Co- 
lonel Scott to prevent them. The enemy sent off boats, and 
Scott resisted them, in which effort he was successful. The 
brig was recaptured, and held until she was subsequently 
burned, by order of General Smythe, who had then arrived. 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS, 13th OCTOBER, 1812. 

In the beginning of October, 1812, Major-General Stephen 
Van Rensselaer had collected together, at Lewistown, about 
two thousand five hundred of the New York militia. The suc- 
cessful enterprise which resulted in the capture of the " Adams" 
and " Caledonia," on the 8th of that month, had given such an 
apparent ardor and impulse to these troops, that it was be- 
lieved impossible to restrain them. Indeed, the troops declared 
they must act, or go home, an alternative which imposed upon 
the general the necessity of some active movement. Accord- 
ingly he planned an attack on Queenstown Heights. The 



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BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS. 7 

troops which he had at his command were the New York 
militia, and about four hundred and fifty regulars under the 
command of Colonels Fenwick and Chrystie, who, with Major 
Mullaney, had arrived the night before, in detachments, from 
Fort Niagara, for the purpose of joining in this expedition. 

The object of the movement was to dispossess the enemy 
from the fort and village of Queenstown Heights, and thus to 
make a lodgement for the American troops on the Canada shore, 
the invasion of Canada being then the leading object of the 
northern campaign. The plan was, to throw over the river two 
columns of troops, each about three hundred strong ; one to be 
commanded by Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, and the other 
by Lieutenant-Colonel Chrystie. The detachments of Fenwick 
and Mullaney were to sustain, in the best way they could, 
these columns. • These arrangements were made on the 12th 
of October. Late in the evening of that day. Colonel Scott 
had arrived, by a forced march, partly by water, and partly 
through mud and rain, at Schlosser, one mile from the Falls, 
and eight from Lewistown, with the view of joining in the 
contemplated attack. He hastened to Lewistown, and volun- 
teered his services to General Van Rensselaer. They were 
declined, on account of the arrangements already made ; but, 
not without permission that Scott should bring his regiment 
immediately to Lewistown, and there act as circumstances 
might require, or opportunities offer. This permission he at 
once availed himself of, and arrived with his corps, at four 
A. M. on the 13th. Finding no boats, he placed his train in 
battery on the American shore, under the immediate command 
of Captains Towson and Barker, and when daylight appeared, 
opened an effective fire on the enemy. 

In the mean time, the principal movement, as originally 
planned, had gone on. All the boats which could be collected 
were employed to transport the columns of Chrystie and Van 
Rensselaer. Unfortunately the boats were insufficient to take 
the whole number at once, and the passage was made by de- 
tachments. • The boat in which Chrystie was, became partially 
disabled, was mismanaged by the pilot, and finally carried 
out of the way by the eddies of the river. He made a gallant 



8 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

attempt to land, but was wounded and compelled to return to 
the American shore. In the after part of the engagement, he 
returned with reinforcements to the troops in Canada, and 
shared the fate of the day. 

The main body of the first embarkation, under the direction 
of Colonel Van Rensselaer, was more successful. Two com- 
panies of the loth regiment, with other small detachments of 
the same regiment, were able to land, and were successively 
reinforced, from time to time, as the few serviceable boats to 
be had could transport them. They were landed under a 
severe fire of the enemy. At this time the numbers of both 
contending parties were small. The British force was com- 
posed of two flank companies of the 49th, and the York militia. 

The Americans did not number much over one hundred 
combatants. Notwithstanding the continued cannonade from 
the enemy's batteries, this small force formed on the bank, 
^nd marched steadily forward. 

.. In a few moments, the fire had killed or wounded every 
commissioned officer, and among these. Colonel Van Rensselaer 
himself, who received four severe wounds. Notwithstanding 
this, he sustained himself long enough to impart the local infor- 
mation he possessed to other officers, who had in the mean 
while come up. In leaving the field, his last command was, 
tthat " all such as could move should immediately mount the 
hill and storm the batteries." This order was promptly obeyed 
^y Captain (now General) Wool, who greatly distinguished 
jbimself, with Captains Ogilvie, Malcolm, and Armstrong, and 
Jjieutenant Randolph. These brave officers stormed the heights, 
took a battery composed of an eighteen-pounder and two mor- 
tars, half way up the acclivity, and were soon in possession of 
ihe highest point, called the "Mountain." At this point of 
time the enemy were beaten, routed, and driven into a strong 
stone building near the water's edge. Here the fugitives were 
rallied and succored by General Brock, the lieutenant-governor 
of Upper Canada, who had returned from the capture of Hull 
to defend the Niagara frontier. Here was his last- act of gal- 
lantry. He fell, at the head of the troops he was leading to 
the charge, and with him, his secretary, Colonel McDonald. 



BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS. 9 

The British troops were again dispersed, and for a time there 
was a pause in the action of the day. 

Exactly at this period, Lieutenant-Colonel Scott arrived on 
the heights. He had been permitted, as a volunteer, to cross 
the river with his adjutant, Roach, and assume the command 
of the whole body engaged. On the Canada side, he unex- 
pectedly found Brigadier-General William Wadsworth of the 
New Yprk militia, who had crossed without orders. Scott, 
therefore, proposed to limit his command to the regulars. But 
the generous and patriotic Wadsworth would not consent. He 
promptly yielded the command over all the forces to Scott. 
" You, sir," said he, " know best professionally what ought to 
be done. I am here for the honor of my country, and that of 
the New York militia." Scott, therefore, assumed the com- 
mand, and, throughout the movements which ensued, General 
Wadsworth dared every danger in aiding the views of the 
commander. Though they had met for the first time, he had 
become already attached to the young colonel. He repeatedly, 
during the battle, interposed his own person to shield Scott 
from the Indian rifles, which his tall person attracted. 

Reinforcements having arrived during the previous engage- 
ments, the forces under Scott now amounted, in all, to three 
hundred and fifty regulars, and two hundred and fifty volun- 
teers, under the direction of General Wadsworth and Colonel 
Stranahan. These, Scott, assisted by the judgment of Captain 
Totten, drew up in a strong and commanding situation. The 
object in view was not only to receive the enemy, but to cover 
the ferry, in expectation of being reinforced by the whole of 
the militia at Lewistown. 

The interval of rest was but short. The first gun which 
broke the silence of the morning, had also roused the British 
garrison of Fort George, eight miles below. Their troops were 
instantly put in motion. The Indians, who had been concen- 
trated in the neighborhood, sprang into activity. In a short 
time, five hundred of these forest warriors joined the British 
light companies previously engaged. A new battle ensued. 
Tlie Americans received the enemy with firmness, and drove 
them back in total rout. Colonel Chrystie, who had then 



10 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 



returned to the Canada shore, states, that he there found Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Scott leading and animating his troops, with a 
gallantry which could not be too highly extolled. 

The protection of the ferry being the main purpose, and the 
Indians in the wood presenting no object for a charge, the 
Americans resumed their original position, and there main- 
tained it valiantly against several successive attacks, till the 
British reinforcements arrived from Fort George. In one of 
these affairs, the advanced pickets of th{^, American line wer*^ 
suddenly driven in by superior numbers, and a general mas- 
sacre seemed inevitable. At this critical moment, Scott, who 
had been in the rear, showing how to unspike a captured can- 
non, hastily returned, and by great exertions brought his line, 




jif /fo^jf>9 -s .yc 



Scott unspiking a captured Cannon. 

in the act of giving way, to the right-about. His brilliant 
example produced a sudden revulsion of feeling. They caught 
the spirit of their leader. With a unanimous burst of enthu- 
siasm, the line suddenly rallied from right to left, threw itself 
forward upon the enemy, putting him to a precipitate flight, 
and strewing the ground with the dead and the wounded. In 
this manner successive conflicts were kept up, till the main 



A SPEECH ON THE TIELD OF BATTLE. 11 

body of the British reinforcements arrived. This was a column 
eight hundred and fifty strong, under the command of Major- 
General Sheaffe. 

During the action, which had now so long proceeded with 
credit to the American troops, the militia who had crossed the 
river, and were engaged with Wadsworth and Stranahan, had 
fought well, and shared both the dangers and the successes of 
the day. At this crisis, however, when the result of the battle 
depended entirely upon reinforcements, information was brought 
to Scott and those engaged, that the militia on the American 
shore refused to cross ! General Van Rensselaer rode among 
them, in all directions, urging the men by every consideration 
to pass, but in vain. Not a regiment nor a company could be 
induced to move ! A panic had seized them ; but even had it 
been otherwise, they could not have crossed, as but a few 
crippled boats remained to take them over. Severe was the 
mortification of this disaster to the brave men engaged, and 
mournful the result ! 

At this period, the British force was estimated, regulars, 
militia, and Indians, at not less than thirteen hundred, while 
the Americans were reduced to less than three hundred. Re- 
treat was as hopeless as succor ; for there were no boats on 
the Canada shore, and the militia on the other side refused to 
give them aid. Scott took his position on the ground they then 
occupied, resolved to abide the shock, and think of surrender 
only when battle was impossible. He mounted a log in front 
of his much-diminished band : " The enemy's balls," said he, 
" begin to thin our ranks. His numbers are overwhelming. 
In a moment the shock must come, and there is no retreat. 
We are in the beginning of a national war. Hull's surrender 
is to be redeemed. Let us then die, arms in hand. Our 
country demands the sacrifice. The example will not be 
lost. The blood of the slain will make heroes of the living. 
Those who follow will avenge our fall and their country's 
wrongs. Who dare to stand ?" " All !" was the answer- 
ing cry. 

In the mean while, the British, under the command of Major- 
General Sheaffe, mana'uvred with great caution, and e\en 




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FLAG OF TRUCE. 13 

hesitation, conscious of the vigorous resistance already made, 
and determined fully to reconnoitre. They found it difficult- 
to believe that so small a body of men was the whole force they 
had to contend with, and supposed it rather an outpost than an 
army. At length the attack began. The Americans tor a 
time maintained their resolution, but fmally began to give way. 
When nearly surrounded, they let themselves (by holding on 
to limbs and bushes) down the precipice to the river. Resist- 
ance was now ended, and after a brief consultation, it was 
determined to send a flag to the enemy, with a proposition to 
capitulate. Several persons were successively sent, but nei 
ther answer nor messenger returned ; they were all shot down, 
or captured by the Indians. At length, Scott determined that 
he himself would make another attempt. He prepared a flag 
of truce — a white handkerchief fastened upon his sword — and 
accompanied by Captains Totten and Gibson, went forth, on a 
forlorn hope, to seek a parley. Keeping close to the water's 
edge, and under cover of the precipice as much as possible, 
they descended along the river. They were exposed to a con- 
tinual random fire from the Indians, until they turned up an 
easy slope to gain the road from the village to the heights. 
They had just attained this road, when they were met by two 
Indians, who sprang upon them. It was in vain that Scott 
declared his purpose, and claimed the protection of his flag. 
They attempted to wrench it from his hands, and at the same 
instant Totten and Gibson drew their swords. The Indians 
had just discharged their rifles at the American officers, and 
were on the point of using their knives and hatchets, when a 
British officer, accompanied by some men, rushed forward and 
prevented a further combat. 

The three American officers were conducted into the pres- 
ence of General Sheaflfe ; terms of capitulation were agreed 
,on, and Scott surrendered his whole force with the honors of 
war. To his intense chagrin and mortification, the number 
of prisoners was soon swelled by several hundreds of mili- 
tia, who had crossed to the Canada shore, and in the confusion 
of the moment, had concealed themselves under the rocks higher 
up the river, and were not in the slightest degree engaged in 



?".f;;^u. 




■^t^ 



THE *' TALL AMERICAN. 15 

the action of the day. Throughout this scene of various action, 
o? mistake and misfortune, of success and disaster, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Scott, — says an accurate account, — was distinguished 
for great exertions. He was in full-dress uniform, and his 
tall stature made him a conspicuous mark. He was singled 
out by the Indians, but remained unhurt. He was urged to 
change his dress. " No," said he, smiling, " I will die in my 
robes." At the same moment Captain Lawrence fell by his 
side, as it was supposed, mortally wounde(J. 



SCOTT ATTACKED BY THE INDIANS. 

After the surrender, the prisoners were escorted to the 
village now called Niagara, at the mouth of the river, where 
the officers were lodged in an inn, aud placed under guard. 
The sentinel had received orders to suffer no prisoner to pass 
out, but not otherwise to restrain their motions. In a little 
while, a message came that some one wished to speak with the 
"tall American." Scott passed through several doors into the 
entry. He was surprised to find in his visiters the same two 
Indians, hideously painted as in battle, who had sprung upon 
him while he was bearing the flag of truce. The elder, tall 
and strong, was the distinguished chief known by the name of 
Captain Jacobs. The other was a young man of fine figure, 
and only inferior in muscular development. In broken English, 
and by gestures, the prisoner was questioned as to his shot- 
marks : the Indians severally holding up their fingers to indi- 
cate the times their rifles had been levelled at him. Jacobs 
grew warm, and seized Scott by the arm to turn him round to 
see his back. Indignant at this manual liberty, the American 
threw the savage from him, exclaiming, " Off, villain !^ You 
fired like a squaw!" "We kill you now!" was the angry 
reply, loosening from their girdles at the same instant knives 
and tomahawks. There was no call for help ; none could 



16 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 

havf> nrrivf'f] in time : and flight would have been, in the 
oi- IS Scott, dastardly. In a corner of the 

. »od the swords of the' Amf^rir;^': 
: :j: 10 the customs of war, ,they ha^ ; 

irrival. A long sabre, in a heavy 
idiiy 4rawn as grasped, lay on the out 
4 ^spring swifily to the rear, and another I 
foe, brought the American, with blade hung in 
I .uiitude of defiance. A second lost — a quiveT- — or a a 
t--rr.)i- of the eye, would have ended this story, and left no tui 
ih;jr room to the biographer of the "tall American." Of one 
of his assailants Scott was absolutely sure ; but that he would 
fall by the hands of the other before the sword could be again 
poised, seemed equally certain. He had the advantage of 
position — standing on the defensive, in a narrow entry, just 
within the foot of the staircase. It was a pass that could not 
be turned. The savages were held without, in the wider 
space, near the front door, but mancBuvring like tigers to close 
upon their prey. The parties were thus terribly grouped, 
when a British officer, entering from the street, and seeing 
what impended, _^cried, " The guard f^' and at the same moment 
seized Jacobs by the arm, and put a pistol to the head of his 
companion. Scott held his blade ready to descend in aid of 
his gallant deliverer, now turned upon by his foes. The 
sentinels obeyed the call they had heard, and came in, with 
bayonets forward. The Indians were marched otf, muttering 
imprecations on all white men, and all the laws of war. The 
younger of these Indian chiefs was the son of the celebrated 
Brant, of the Revolutionary war, whose life has recently been 
given to the public by the late Col. Wm. L. Stone. The 
officer who so opportunely entered, on a visit of courtesy, was 
Captain Coffin, then in the staff of General SheafTe, and now 
of high rank in the British army. This adventure he frequent- 
ly narrated, both in New York and on the other side of the 
Atlantic. 

The exasperation of the Indians against Colonel Scott was 
occasioned by the number of their people killed on Queen^own 
Heights ; and their excitement v/as so great, that while he re- 




' W^SIll^«f)«® 



18 * LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

mained at Niagara he could not leave his inn, even to dine 
with Sir Roger Sheaffe, without a British escort. 



CAPTURED IRISHMEN. SCOTX's INTERFERENCE IN THEIR BEHALF. 

—THEIR JOYFUL INTERVIEW WITH HIM. 

The battle of Queenstown closed with the surrender of Scott 
and his small force to the greatly superior numbers under the 
command of General SheafFe. These prisoners were sent to 
Quebec, thence in a cartel to Boston, and soon after Scott was 
exchanged. When the prisoners were about to sail from 
Quebec, Scott, being in the cabin of the transport, heard a 
bustle upon deck, and hastened up. There he found a party 
of British officers in the act of mustering the prisoners, and 
separating from the rest such as, by confession or the accent 
of the voice, were judged to be Irishmen. The object was to 
send them, in a frigate then alongside, to England, to be tried 
and executed for the crime of. high treason, they being taken 
in arms against their native allegiance ! Twenty-three had 
been thus set apart when Scott reached the deck, and there 
were at least forty more of the same birth in the detachment. 
They were all in deep affliction, at what they regarded as the 
certain prospect of a shameful death. Many were adopted 
citizens of the United States, and several had left families in 
the land of their adoption. The moment Scott ascertained the 
object of the British officers, acting under the express orders 
of the governor-general. Sir George Provost, he commanded 
his men to answer no more questions, in order that no other se- 
lection should be made by the test of speech. He commanded 
them to, remain absolutely silent, and they strictly obeyed. 
This was done, in spite of the threats of the British officers, 
and 'not another man was separated from his companions. 
Scott Was repeatedly commanded to go below, and high alter- 
cations ensued. He addressed the party selected, and explain- 




mmr 






20 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

ed to them fully the reciprocal obligations of allegiance and 
protection, assuring them, that the United States would not 
fail to avenge their gallant and faithful soldiers ; and finally 
pledged himself, in the most solemn manner, that retaliation, 
and, if necessary, a refusal to give quarter in battle, should 
follow the execution of any one of the party. In the midst 
of this animated harangue he was frequently interrupted by 
the British officers, but, though unarmed, could not be si- 
lenced. 

The Irishmen were put in irons on board the frigate, and 
sent to England. When Scott landed in Boston, he proceeded 
to Washington, and was duly exchanged. He immediately 
related to the president the scene which had occurred at 
Quebec, and was by him instructed to make a full report of 
the whole transaction, in writing, to the secretary of war. This 
was done on the 13th January, 1813. 

As this letter is an important and authentic portion of the 
history of the discussion which subsequently ensued, in regard 
to the rights of naturalized citizens under the code of inter- 
national law, we insert it in this place. 

Lieutenant- Colonel Scott to the Secretary of War. 
Sir— 

I think it my duty to lay before the department that, 
on the arrival at Quebec of the American prisoners of war 
surrendered at Queenstown, they were mustered and examined 
by British officers appointed to that duty, and every native-born 
of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland sequester- 
ed, and sent on board a ship of war then in the harbor. The 
vessel in a few days thereafter sailed for England, with these 
persons on board. Between fifteen and twenty persons were 
thus taken from us, natives of Ireland, several of whom were 
known by their platoon officers to be naturalized citizens of the 
United States, and others to have been long residents within the 
same. One in particular, whose name has escaped me, besides 
having complied with all the conditions of our naturalization 
laws, was represented by his officers to have left a wife and 
five children, all of them born within the state of Nqw York. 



INTERESTING INCIDENTS. 21 

I distinctly understood, as well from the officers who came 
on board the prison-ship for the above purposes, as from others 
with whom I remonstrated on this subject, that it was the de- 
termination of the British government, as expressed through 
Sir George Provost, to punish every man whom it might sub- 
ject to its power, found in arms against the British king con- 
trary to his native allegiance. 

I have the honor to be, sir, 
• Your most obedient servant, 

W. Scott, 
Lieut.-Col. U. S. 2d artillery. 

At the instance of Scott, this Report was, the same day, sent 
to both houses of Congress. It was also by him pressed on the 
attention of many members in each house. The result was 
the early passage of the " Act vesting the President of the 
United States with the power of retaliation ;" ordered to a 
third reading, Feb. 27th, and passed March 3d, 181.3. 

Two months after this, (May 27th, 1813,) in the battle and 
capture of Fort George, Scott took a great number of prisoners. 
True to his pledge given at Quebec, he, as adjutant-general, 
(chief of the staff,) immediately selected twenty-three of the 
number to be confined in the interior of the United States, there 
to abide the fate of the twenty-three imprisoned and sent to 
England by the British officers. In making the selection, he 
was careful not to include a single Irishman, in order that 
Irishmen might not be sacrificed for Irishmen. This step led, 
on both sides, to the confinement as hostages, of many other 
men and officers, all of whom were, of course, dependent for 
their lives on the fate of the original twenty-three. 

In July, 1815, when peace had been some months concluded, 
and Scott (then a major-general) was passing along on the 
East River side of the city of New York, he was attracted by 
loud cheers and bustle on one of the piers. He approached 
the scene, and great was his delight to find, that it was the 
cheers of his old Irish friends, in whose behalf he had inter- 
fered at Quebec, and who had, that moment, landed in triumph, 
after a confinement of more than two years in English prisons ! 



22 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

He was quickly recognised by them, hailed as their deliverer, 
and nearly crushed by their warm-hearted embraces ! Twenty- 
one were present, two having died natural deaths. 

Scott had not then recovered from the wounds he had re- 
ceived in the bloody battle of the Niagara, and was about to 
embark on a voyage to Europe. Yet, in conformity with the 
promises of friendship he had made these men, he found time 
to write to the departments at Washington, and solicit for them 
their patents for land bounties, and thei^ long arrearages of 
pay. He Vv^as successful, and they were at length restored 
both to their adopted country and their promised rewards. 
Several of these brave sons of Ireland are yet alive, and can 
testify to the truth of this narrative. They, in common with 
hundreds of their countr5^men taken prisoners in the same war, 
fighting the battles of liberty, have good reason to believe that 
they owe their liberties, if not their lives, to the solicitations, 
spirit, and zeal, of Winfield Scott ! 



CAPTURE OF FORT GEORGE IN MAY, 1813, AND EVENTS OF THE 

CAMPAIGNS OF THAT YEAR. 

In May, 1813, Colonel Scott joined the army, at Fort 
Niagara, under the command of Major-General Dearborn, in 
the capacity of Adjutant-General, or Chief of the Staif. 

On the British side of the Niagara was a peninsula, of 
which Fort George was the defence. This position General 
Dearborn determined to carry. He was then at the head of 
four or five thousand men, and was co-operated with by Com- 
modore Chauncey and his naval force. Arrangements were 
made for an attack on the morning of the 27th of May. At 
3 A. M. the fleet weighed anchor, and before four, the troops 
were all on board the boats. The embarkation was made 
three miles east of our Fort Niagara. It was made in six di- 
visions of boats. In the first was Colonel Scott, who led the 
advanced guard, or forlorn hope, a service to which he had 



XTj 



rq 




24 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

specially volunteered. In the second was Colonel Moses 
Porter, with the field train. Then followed the brigades of 
Generals Boyd, Winder, Chandler, and a reserve under Col. 
A. Macomb. 

tn the mean time, Commodore Chauncey had directed his 
schooners to anchor close in shore, so near as to cover the 
landing of the troops, and sweep by their fire the woods and 
plain wherever the enemy might make his appearance. 
Captain Perry, a friend of Scott's, had joined Commodore 
Chauncey, from Erie, on the evening of the 25th, and gal- 
lantly volunteered his services in superintending the debarka- 
tion of the troops. It was an operation of nicety, in conse- 
quence of the wind, the current, a heavy surf, and the early 
commenced fire of the enemy. He was present wherever he 
could be useful, under showers of musketry. He accompanied 
the advanced guard • through the surf, and rendered special 
services, of which General Scott has since spoken in the 
highest terms of commendation. It was the budding forth of 
that professional skill, and that brave and generous conduct, 
which soon bloomed out in the glory which now surrounds tho 
name of the hero of Lake Erie. 

Colonel Scott effected his landing, on the British shore of 
Lake Ontario, at nine o'clock in the morning, in good order, 
at half a mile from the village of Newark, now Niagara, and 
the same distance west of the mouth of the river. He formed 
his line on the beach, covered by an irregular bank, which 
served as a partial shield against the enemy's fire. This 
bank, which was from seven to twelve feet in height, he had 
to scale against the bayonets of the foe, who had drawn up 
his force, some fifteen hundred men, immediately on its brow. 
In the first attempt to ascend, the enemy pushed back the as- 
sailants. General Dearborn, who was still in the commo- 
dore's ship, seeing with his glass Scott fall backward upon the 
beach, burst into tears, exclaiming, " He is lost ! He is 
killed !" Scott's fall was, however, momentary. Recovering 
himself, and rallying his men, he reascended the bank, knock- 
ing up tlie enemy's bayonets, and took a position at the edge 
of a ravine, a little way in advance. A sharp action of abou 



26 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

ivventy minutes in length ensued. It was short and desperate, 
♦Miding in the total rout of the enemy at every point. ^ 

Meanwhile, Porter with his artillery, and Boyd with a part 
of liis brigade, had landed in the rear of the advance guard, 
and slightly participated in the close of the action. Scott 
pursued the rout as far as the village, where he was joined 
by the 6th regiment of infantry, under the command of Colonel 
James Miller. 

As the column was passing Fort George, in pursuit, Scott 
learned from some prisoners caught running out, that the 
garrison were about to abandon and blow up the place. Two 
companies were instantly dispatched from the head of his 
column to save the work, its guns, and stores. At the dis- 
tance of some eighty paces from the fort, one of its magazines 
exploded. Scott was struck by a piece of timber, thrown 
from his horse, and much hurt. He nevertheless caused the 
gate to be forced, and was the first to enter. With his own 
hand he took down the British flag, then waving over the 
works. Being reminded by his prisoners of the danger he in- 
curred from explosion, he directed Captains Hindman and 
Stockton to snatch away the matches, which had been applied 
by the retreating garrison to two other small magazines. The 
fort had been rendered untenable by the American batteries 
on the opposite shore, and its capture was but the work of a, 
few minutes. This accomplished, Scott remounted, and was 
soon at the head of his column, in hot pursuit. This pursuit 
was continued for five miles, until, at length, he was recalled 
by General Boyd in person. He had already disregarded two 
successive orders to the same effect, sent by General Lewis, 
saying to the aids-de-camp who came to him, (one of them 
Lieutenant, now General, Worth, and the other Major Vande- 
venter,) " Your General does not know that I have the enemy 
within my power ; in seventy minutes, I shall capture his 
whole force." 

In point of fact, Scott was already in the midst of the 
British stragglers, with their main body full in sight. He 
would not have been overtaken by Boyd, but that he had 
waited fifteen minutes for Colonel Burn, his senior office, who 




%.i^J 



iu>i 






28 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



had consented to serve under him. This last colonel had 
just crossed the river from the Five-Mile Meadow, in the rear 
of the main body of the enemy, with one troop of horse, and 
was then waiting the landing of another now more than half 
way over. This force constituted the precise additional force 
which was wanted by Scott to make good the assurances he 




''"^^^r' 



Porter complaining of Scott's long Legs. 



had sent to General Lewis. With the recall of Scott from, 
the pursuit of the enemy ended the battle and capture of For* 
George. The American loss was less than that of the enemy, 
and one of the objects set forth in the plan of the campaign 
was decidedly accomplished. 

This engagement was not without some incidents, which 
may serve to illustrate both the character of Scott, and the 



STRIKING INCIDENTS. 29 

gallantry of the American army. Scott, as we have narrated, 
had turned from the head of his column to enter Fort George, 
and seize the British flag. Just behind him was Colonel Moses 
Porter, of the artillery. On entering the fort, and finding 
Scott there. Porter exclaimed " Confound your long legs, Scott, 
you have got in before me." 

After the capture of Scott, the year before, at Queenstown, 
he was supping with General Sheaffe, and a number of British 
officers, when one of them, a colonel, asked him if he had 
ever seen the neighboring Falls. Scott replied, " Yes, from 
the American side." To this the other sarcastically replied, 
" You must have the glory of a successful fight before you 
can view the cataract in all its grandeur," meaning from tlte 
Canada shore. Scott rejoined, "If it be your intention to in- 
sult me, sir, honor should have prompted you first to return 
me my sword !" General Sheaffe promptly rebuked the British 
colonel, and the matter was dropped. 

At the battle of Fort George, among the earliest prisoners 
taken by the Americans was the same British colonel, badly 
wounded. Scott politely borrov/ed the prisoner's horse, not 
being able to bring his own in the boats, and gave orders that 
the prisoner should be treated with all possible attention and 
kindness. That evening, after the pursuit,^ and as often as 
subsequent events permitted, Scott called on the British coloneL 
He returned him the horse, and carefully provided for all his 
wants. Indeed, he obtained permission for him to return to 
England on his parole, at a time when the belligerents had 
begun to refuse such favors, as well as all exchanges. At the 
first of these visits the prisoner delicately remarked, " I have 
long owed you an apology, sir. You have overwhelmed me 
with kindnesses. You can now, at your leisure, view the Falls 
in all their glory." 

It is such acts of magnanimity as these which reflect honor 
on human nature. Were they more frequent, the rough brow 
of war would be smoothed to smiles, and the field of battle be 
a& remarkable for the beautiful in character as for the glorious 
in action. « 

Colonel Scott and Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey were, in tlie 



30 UFE OF GENERAL SCOTl. 

campaign of 1813, the adjutant-generals of the opposmg armies 
in Upper Canada. Both being always in front, they very 
generally found themselves pitted against each other in the 
battle-field. Their staff positions also made them the organs 
of their respective armies, by letters and by personal inter- 
views, under flass of truce. In that official intercourse they 
cordially united to soften down the asperities of war — to pro- 
vide for the general wants of prisoners, to appoint exchanges 
and to obtain paroles, and to the devising of means for enforcing 
the laws of civilized war on the Indian allies of the two armies. 
It was also through them that letters and money passed from 
one army into the hands of the prisoners of the other. Thus 
it happened that sentiments of high respect between the parties 
were soon ripened into personal friendship, leading (for both 
were remarkable in stature) to mutual recognition and salutes, 
when advancing to close combat. If their chivalry went not 
as far as that of the French officer at the battle of Fontenoi, 
who, standing in front of his troops, exclaimed, " Gentlemen 
of the English guards, give us your fire!" yet there was not 
wanting a touch of the romantic in. their meetings. 

Once, when reconnoitring and skirmishing, Scott contrived, 
as he thought, to cut off his daring opponent from the possibility 
of retreat. In an instant, an American rifle was levelled up- 
on him. Scott struck up the deadly weapon, crying — " Hold ! 
he is our prisoner." But Harvey, by a sudden turn and^ 
desperate leap of his horse, broke through the skirmishers, and 
escaped under a shower of balls, to reappear in the following 
campaign, a formidable opponent of his enemy and friend in 
the fields of Chippewa and Niagara. 

I»: July of the same year. Col. Scott was promoted to the 
command of a double regiment, (20 companies,) at which 
time he resigned the office of Adjutant-General, as it no longer 
conferred additional rank. In September an expedition was 
proposed against Burlington Heights, at the head of Lake 
Ontario, reported to be the depot of a large quantity of pro- 
visions and other British stores. In this expedition he volun- 
teered to command th(j»land troops, and was taken on board the 
fleet by Commodore Chauncey. Burlington Heights were 






■:"-2:u>;?^^^^ 







32 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

visited, but neither enemy nor stores were found there. On 
the return, it was determined to make a descent upon York^ 
(now Toronto.) Accordingly, a landing of the soldiers and 
marines was effected, under the command of Colonel Scott. 
The barracks and public storehouses were burnt. Large de- 
pots of provisions and clothing were taken, together with eleven 
armed boats, and a considerable quantity of ammunition, and 
several pieces of cannon. 

At the close of this summer a campaign was' devised, having 
for its object the capture of Kingston and of Montreal. Scott 
joined the army at Ogdensburgh, on the 6th of November. 
Wilkinson was then just about to pass the heavy fort (Welling- 
ton) opposite, the fire of which Scott had the honor to receive in 
the leading and largest boat of the American flotilla. 

The passage of this fort was one of the striking incidents of 
the late war. It was a clear November night, and at the 
season of the Indian summer. No breeze ruffled the surface 
of the broad St. Lawrence, and when at the hour of eleven the 
moon rose above the horizon, the scene appeared more appro- 
priate for the converse of angel spirits than for the clang of 
arms and the horrors of war. 

At about that hour, the American army, numbering seven 
thousand men, with muffled oars, was slowly descending the 
river, when a gun from Fort Wellington announced that their 
purpose was known to the enemy. The whole fort was imme- 
diately lit up by the blaze of artillery, and the huge mortars 
vomited forth their volumes of fire. The balls from the heavy 
cannon passed through the air with impetuous fury, and 
screamed, as if impatient to accomplish their work of death — 
while the shells from the mortars described graceful curves, 
which were easily traced in the air by their burning fuzes. 
The whole army, however, passed the fort without serious loss. 

The following day Scott was appointed to the command of a 
fine battalion, in the corps d'elite, under Colonel Macomb. In 
the descent of the St. Lawrence, he commanded the advance- 
guard of the army ; hence he was not present at the action 
of the 11th of November, at Chrysler's Farm, fifteen miles in 
the rear. 




iiPilf ' 



imm^'' ■ 



imWilW''''^''''"''''''^'' 



34 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

At the moment of that battle, Scott, with seven hundred 
men, was engaged with Colonel Dennis and an equal force, 
in passing Hoophole Creek, just above Cornwall. He ef- 
fected the passage under the fire of the British force, routed 
them, captured many prisoners, and pursued the fugitives till 
night. 

Being always in advance, he had the day before landed near 
Fort Matilda, which commanded the narrowest point on the 
whole length of the St. Lawrence. There he had a sharp en- 
counter with the enemy, took an officer and some men prison 
err% and gained possession of the fort. 

At commencing the descent of the St. Lawrence, Wilkin- 
son had proclaimed that he came to " conquer," but the 
indecisive action of " Chrysler's Farm," in which a portion 
only of the army was engaged, was the only event connected 
with the general movement of the expedition which looked 
like a resolute determination, or a positive energy, tov/ards 
decisive action. Even in that action the troops were limited, 
by the orders of the commander-in-chief, to defensive opera- 
tions. It was, therefore, attended with no important results. 



FORMATION OF THE CAMP OF INSTRUCTION AT BUFFALO. OPEN- 
ING OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814. 

The campaign of 1813 closed in disaster and disgrace. 
The hopes of the nation, which had been excited by the bril- 
liant achievements with which it opened, sank to despair, when 
the army, after sustaining a partial defeat, made an abrupt 
and hasty retreat. The military spirit of the army was lost. 
New levies of troops were to be made, and the spirit of daring, 
of confidence, and energy, was to be created before they could 
take the field. 

To accomplish these objects. Colonel Scott passed a part of 
the winter, subsequent to the events on the 'A. Lawrence, at 



CAMP OF INSTRUCTION AT BUFFALO. 



35 



Albany. There he was engaged in preparing the matiriel h\' 
the next campaign, and, by instructions from the president, in 
ari'anging high politico-military questions, with the patriotic 
Governor Tompkins. 

On the 9th of March, 1814, Colonel Scott was promoted to 
the rank of Brigadier-General, and immediately joined Major- 
General Brown, then marching with the army from the French 
Mills towards the Niagara frontier. 

On the 24th inst.. General Brown set out forSacketts Harbor, 
expressly for the purpose, as he said, of leaving it to Scott to 
establish a camp of instruction, and to prepare the troops, as 
they arrived, for opening the campaign. 




Scotl instructinsr the Officers. 



These troops were placed in the camp of instruction at Buf^ 
falo, where for more than three months they were drilled in 
ull the evolutions and tactics necessary to give them the most 
accurate and thorough discipline. The modern French system 
was adopted. All the officers, without regard to rank, were 



36 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

first rigorously drilled by the commanding general, in small 
squads. These officers then instructed the rank and file in 
squads, under his eye. Companies were next formed, and 
subjected to the same process; then battalions; and, finally, 
these again were instructed by General Scott in person. 
When these details were all learned, the troops were carried 
by him through the evolutions of the line, (the movement of 
armies,) with the same strict attention to science and the wants 
of the field. 

In the camp of instruction at Bufialo the army, from con 
stant drill, acquired its organization, exact discipline, and 
habits of hardihood, and of cheerful obedience. Officers and 
men were taught the proper distribution of duties between 
each other, between the different corps, and the different ser- 
vices. From the formation of a coluinn of attack to the pre- 
sentation of a salute, and from the movement in Echelon to the 
exchange of the minutest courtesies, they learned alike the 
substance and the form of those duties of the camp and the 
field, which are developed in the array and the action of war. 



PASSAGE OF THE NIAGARA. 1814. 

Early in the morning of the 3d of July, Scott's brigade, 
with the artillery corps of Major Hindman, crossed the river, 
and landed below Fort Erie, while Ripley's brigade landed 
above. Scott led the van, crossing in a boat with Colonel 
Camp, who had volunteered his services, and was on shore be. 
fore the enemy's picket fired a gun. Fort Erie soon sur- 
rendered, and preparations were immediately made to advance, 
and attack the army of General Riall at Chippewa. 

On the morning of the 4th, Scott's brigade, several hours 
in advance, moved towards Chippewa. For sixteen miles he 
had a running fight with the Marquis of Tweedale, who com- 
manded the British 100th regiment, till at dusk the latter was 
driven across Chippewa River, and joined the main body of 



)ii 



B!i,i"i!'i"'lili:-'l.:|J 







38 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

the British army under General Riall. The Marquis has 
since said, that he could not account for the ardor of the pur- 
suit until he recollected the fact that it was the American 
great anniversary. 

That night, Scott took up a position above Street's Creek, 
two miles from the British camp below Chippewa. The in- 
terval between these creeks was a plain, on which was fought 
the battle of Chippewa. * 



BATTLE OF CHIPPEWA. 



The positions of Riall and of Scott on the morning of the 

5th may be easily understood. On the east side was the 

Niagara River, and near it the road to Chippewa. On the 

west was a heavy wood. Between these, running from the 

wood to the river, were two streams, the principal of which 

was the Chippewa. The other was the small creek above, 

called Street's. Behind, and below the Chippewa, lay the 

army of General Riall, with a heavy battery on one side and 

a blockhouse on the other. Scott's brigade had rested for the 

night on and above Street's Creek. Over these streams the 

road to Chippewa passed on bridges, the one over Street's near 

the Americans, and the other over the Chippewa near the 

British. This was the position of the respective parties on 

the morning of the 5th, when General Brown was expecting 

to attack the British, and they in turn determined to anticipate 

it, by a sortie from the lines of Chippewa. It was a long day 

in summer ; the earth was dry and dusty, and the sun bright 

and hot, when the best troops of Britain and America met, as 

in tournaments of old, to test their skill, their firmness, and 

their courage, on the banks of the Niagara. 

The day began with the skirmishes of light troops. The 
British militia and Indians occupied the wood on the American 
left, and about noon annoyed the American pickets placed qn 
that flank. General Porter, with volunteers, militia, and some 
friendly Indians of the Six Nations, soon engaged them, and, 



^^ 




40 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

after some skirmishing, drove them through the wood, back 
upon Chippewa. Here the British irregulars, finding that 
their main army under General Riall was advancing, rallied, 
and in turn attacked Porter, compelling his command to give 
way. In spite of his own efforts and personal gallantry, these 
light troops broke and fled, at sight of the formidable array of 
Riall. 

It was now about four o'clock. General Brown was then 
in the wood with Porter ; when a cloud of dust arose towards 
the bridge of Chippewa, and a firing was heard. This ap- 
prized him that the British army was advancing. At this 
very moment. General Scott, in ignorance of the British ad- 
vance, was moving his brigade towards the plain, simply for 
the purpose of drill. Near the bridge over Street's Creek he 
met General Brown, who said — " The enemy is advancing. 
You will have a fight." Beyond this brief remark, Scott re- 
ceived no further orders during the day. General Brown 
passed to the rear, to put Ripley's brigade in motion, and to 
reassemble the light troops behind Street's Creek. It was not 
till he arrived at the bridge, over Street's Creek, two hundred 
yards to the right of his camp of the night befoi'e, that Scott 
saw the enemy. The army of Riall had crossed the bridge 
over the Chippewa, and displayed itself on the plain before de- 
scribed. It was composed of the 100th regiment, under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel the Marquis of Tweedale ; the 1st or Royal 
Scots, under Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon ; a portion of the 8th 
or King's regiment; a detachment of the Royal Artillery ; a 
detachment of the Royal 19th Light Dragoons ; and a portion 
of Canada militia and Indians. The main body of these troops 
were among the best in the British army. 

This force was supported by a heavy battery of nine pieces, 
within point-blank range of the American troops. Under the 
fire of this battery the corps of Scott passed the bridge in per- 
fect order, but with some loss. His first and second battalions, 
under Majors Leavenworth and M'Neil, after crossing, formed 
a line to the front, which brought them opposed respectively to 
the left and centre of the enemy. The third battalion under 
Major Jesup obliqued in column to the left, and advanced to 



42 



LIFE QF GENERAL SCOTT. 



attack the right of the enemy, which extended into the wood. 
Captain Towson with his artillery was stationed on the right, 
resting in the Chippewa road. 

General Scott soon perceived that, although there were no 
intervals in the British line, yet their right wing outflanked his 
left. To remedy this difficulty caused the movement of Jesup, 
and the interval between the battalions of Leavenworth and 
M'Neil on the plain, was greatly enlarged. These evolutions 
were executed rapidly, and with great precision, under the fire- 
of both musketry and artillery. 

The instant that Leavenworth and M'Neil's battalions were 
thrown into oblique positions, both armies rapidly advancing, 
Scott galloped to our battery on the right, and called out to 
Towson — " Captain, more to the left ; the enemy is there !" 
Towson, on foot, and enveloped in smoke, could not see that 
the enemy's line had advanced inside the range of his last dis- 
charge. The gallant Captain— than whom no man in the 
army possessed a greater prowess— instantly changed the di- 
rection of his two remaining guns more to the left, and gave the 
final destructive fire, a second or two before the conflict of 
bayonets on that flank. 

The action soon became general. Major Jesup now in the 
wood, and out of view, engaged, and held in check the enemy's 
right wing. The plain widened on that flank, and the enemy's 
main line continued to advance. Jesup having thus held in 
check one battalion in the wood, the engagement there gave 
the enemy a new right flank upon the plain. General Scott, 
who had continued alternately to advance, halt, and fire, found 
himself not more than eighty paces from the enemy. The 
enemy having a new flank, Scott took advantage of the en- 
larged interval between Leavenworth and M'Neil, to throw the 
left flank of M'Neil's battalion forward on its right, so that it 
stood obliquely to the enemy's charge and flanking him a little 
on his new right. At this moment Scott called aloud to 

M'Neil's battalion, which had not a recruit in it, " The 

enemy say, that we are good at long shot, but cannot stand the 
cold iron! I call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie 
to tlial slander! Charge!" This movement was executed 




-■im 






mm 



44 LIFE OP GENERAL SCOTT. 

with decisive effect. A corresponding charge was also made 
by Leavenworth, who held an oblique position on our right. 
These charges were sustained by the flank fire of Towson's 
artillery on the right, and quickly put the enemy to rout. The 
British army broke, and fled in confusion. 

In the mean while, and nearly at the same time, Major 
Jesup, commanding the left flank battalion, finding himself 
pressed in front and flank, ordered his men to " support arms 
and advance." This order was promptly obeyed amidst a 
deadly and destructive fire. Having gained a more secure 
position, he returned upon the enemy so severe a fire as caused 
them to retire. Thus was the whole British line fairly routed, 
in a field action, on an open plain. They fled to their intrench- 
ments beyond the Chippewa, hotly pursued by Scott to the dis- 
tance of half musket-shot of Chippewa Bridge. He took many 
prisoners, leaving the plain behind strewed with the dead and 
wounded of both nations. 

The battle of Chippewa was an exciting and in some degree 
poetic scene. It was fought at the close of a long, bright sum- 
mer's day. On one side rolled the rapids of the deep Niagara, 
on the other was seen the verdure of the northern forest. The 
plain on which the hostile forces met was level and smooth, as 
if prepared for the meeting of the warriors of ancient knight- 
hood. The best troops of England wheeled into it over Chip- 
pewa Bridge, and the regiments of America, cool and disciplined, 
marched to meet them in combat. The sun shone down, and 
brilliant arms flashed in his beams. Each movement of the 
troops was distinct. As the battle deepened, fine bands of 
music mingled their melody, in sudden bursts, with the roar of 
artillery and the moans of the wounded. 

The battle ended, and many were the dead upon that dusty 
plain, whose last groans had expired with the last rays of the 
setting sun. 

Darkness came on, and wearied with battle and thirsty with 
heat, each army retired to its camp. The dead woke not from 
their bloody beds, and the living sank to rest. The wounded 
and his. watcher, the sentinel and the stars, alone kept the vigila 
of the night. 



ADVANCE OF THE ARMY. 45 

In the British official account of this battle, the American 
force is represented as numerically superior. The -fact was 
the reverse. The British force amounted to about 2100 men, 
and the American to 1900. The total killed and wounded of 
the British troops was 503, and the Americans lost 327. 



AMERICAN ARMY CROSSES THE CHIPPEWA. BATTLE OF NIAG- 
ARA. SCOTT WOUNDED AND DISABLED. 

The army of the north had scarcely rested from its labors at 
Chippewa, when it was called to the still more sanguinary field 
of Niagara. The second day after the battle of the 5th, the 
American troops forced their way over Chippewa River. In 
this, Scott's brigade led, and the enemy retreated before him. 

In the afternoon of the 25th of July, amidst general relaxa- 
tion, General Brown received a note from a colonel of militia, 
whose regiment occupied two or three posts on the American 
side of the Niagara, stating in the most precise terms, that the 
enemy had thrown a thousand men across from Queenstown to 
Lewistown, nine miles below the Chippewa, for some object 
not exactly understood. Brown conjectured that there was an 
intention to capture our magazines at Schlosser, and to inter- 
cept supplies coming down from Buffalo. In order to recall 
him from this object. Brown immediately determined to threaten 
the forts at the mouth of the Niagara. In less than twenty 
minutes Scott's command was put in motion for that purpose. 
His force consisted of four small battalions, under Colonel 
Brady, and Majors Jesup, Leavenworth, and M'Neil ; Captain 
Towson's artillery, and Captain Harris's detachment of regular 
and volunteer cavalry ; in all amounting to thirteen hundred 
men. There was not time to call in the guards which belonged 
to those corps. 

About two miles from the camp, and just above the Falls, 
Scott discovered a few British officers, mounted, who, as it 
turned out, were in advance to reconnoitre. He soon learned 



46 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

that the enemy was in some little force below, and only inter- 
cepted from the view by a narrow wood. 

In this situation, Scott for a moment reflected on what course 
should be pursued. He was instructed to march rapidly on 
the forts, under positive information, (given as we have narrated 
to General Brown,) that Riall had, three hours before, thrown 
half his force across the Niagara. Reflecting that the whole 
had been beaten on the 5th inst., he lost no time in reconnoi- 
tring, but dashed forward to disperse what he thought was the 
remnant of the British army opposed to him. 

After dispatching Assistant Adjutant-General Jones to Gen- 
eral Brown with the information that the enemy was in front, 
he proceeded to pass the wood, just below Forsythe's House. 
There he was greatly astonished to find, directly in front, 
drawn up in order of battle, on Lundy's Lane, a larger force 
even than that he had encountered at Chippewa twenty days 
before ! The position he was in was extremely critical. To 
stand fast was out of the question, being already under a heavy 
fire of the enemy's artillery and musketry. To retreat was 
equally hazardous ; for there is always, in such a case, the 
probability of confusion, and, at this time, the danger of creating 
a panic in the reserve, then supposed to be coming up, and 
which had not been in the previous battle. 

Scott saw that no measure but one of boldness would succeed. 
He therefore determined to maintain the battle against superior 
numbers and position till the reserve came up, thus giving 
General Riall the idea that the whole American army was at 
hand. This would prevent him from profiting by his numeri- 
cal strength to attack our flanks and rear. He would thus 
lose the initial, a matter of no small importance in military 
enterprises. The scheme succeeded. For a long time the 
enemy was kept on the defensive, till the American reserve 
had come up and entered into the action. 

In the mean while Scott had sent back to General Brown, 
Lieutenant Douglass, as well as Major Jones, to report the 
condition of affairs. The first was to report that the remnant 
of Riall's army was manoeuvring to protect the detachment 
thrown over the Niagara ; the second was to inform the gen- 



BATTLE OF NIAGARA. 47 

•ral, that so far from being diminished, the British army was 
actually reinforced, and thus to hasten up the reserve. 

The battle began about forty minutes before sunset, and, like 
its predecessor at Chippewa, was the closing drama of a long 
and warm summer's day. Like that too, it signalized among 
the affairs of men a spot which in the world of nature had been 
rendered illustrious by one of the great and glorious works of 
God. When the battle was about to begin, just as the setting 
sun sent his red beams from the west, they fell upon the spray, 
which continually goes up, like incense, from the deep, dashing 
torrent of Niagara. The bright light was divided into its 
primal hues, and a rainbow rose from the waters, encircling the 
head of the advancing colunin ! In a more superstitious age, 
such a sign would have been regarded, like the Roman 
auguries, as a precursor of victory. Even now, this bow of 
promise furnished the inspiration of hope, with the colors of 
beauty. 

The line which now opened its fire upon Scott, at the dis- 
tance of one hundred and fifty paces, was already eighteen 
hundred strong. It was well posted in Lundy's Lane, a ridge 
nearly at right angles with the Niagara River, a little below 
the cataract. Its left was on the road parallel to the river, 
with a space covered with brushwood, of some two hundred 
yards, between. Scott observing this interval, soon ordered 
Major Jesup, sustained by Colonel Brady, to take advantage 
of it, and, concealed by the bushes and twilight, to turn the 
enemy's left. The other battalions had been be fere promptly 
deployed into line, and the action joined by it (Bra^y on the 
right) and Towson's artillery. The small detachments of 
cavalry on both sides were held in reserve. The enemy, find- 
ing after some time that he outflanked us on the left, threw for- 
ward a battalion to take us in flank and rear. Scott, although 
with inferior numbers, caused this movement to be promptly 
met and repelled by Major M' Neil's battalion, but with great 
loss on both sides. At the same moment, the action in front 
was desperately contested by Brady, now in line, and by 
Leavenworth and Towson. Major Jesup had succeeded in his 
movement. He had taken Major-General Riall, and several 



48 LIFE OP GENERAL SCOTT. 

other officers, prisoners, and then gallantly charged bacK, 
(cutting off a portion of the enemy's left wing,) reappearing, 
and resuming his position in line. 

The battle which had commenced before sunset continued 
into the night. Twilight had gone, and it was now nine o'clock. 
The enemy's right had been beaten back from its flank assault 
with great loss. His left was turned and cut off. His centre 
alone remained firm. It was posted on a ridge, and supported 
by nine pieces of artillery. 

Three battalions of Drummond's reinforcements had al- 
ready arrived, and a fourth was only a few miles behind. 
Such was the state of the field, when Major-General Brown 
arrived, a little in advance of our reserve. He insisted on 
having all the particulars, reported to him previously by the 
detached staff-officers mentioned, explained and confirmed to 
him by the lips of Scott. At this point, General Brown in his 
official report takes up the narrative, from his own personal 
observation. We select a few extracts in continuance of the 
history. 

After speaking of Scott's brigade, and its position in the fi.rst 
part of the battle, he says — " Apprehending that these corps 
were much exhausted, and knowing that they had suffered se- 
verely, I determined to interpose a new line with the advancing 
troops, and thus disengage General Scott, and hold his brigade 
in reserve. Orders were accordingly given to General Ripley. 
The enemy's artillery at this moment occupied a hill, which 
gave him great advantages, and was the key to the whole 
position. It was supported by a line of infantry. To secure 
the victory, it was necessary to carry this artillery and seize 
the height. Tliis duty was assigned to Colonel Miller. 

" He (Colonel Miller) advanced steadily and gallantly to his 
object, and carried the height and the cannon. General Rip- 
ley brought up the 23d, which had faltered, to his support, and 
the enemy disappeared from before them. * * * * The enemy 
rallying his forces, and as is believed, having received rein- 
forcements, now attempted to drive us from our position and 
regain his artillery. Our line was unshaken and the enemy 
repulsed. Two other attempts, having the same object, had 



BATTLE OF NIAGARA. _ 49 

the same issue. General Scott was again engaged in repelling 
the former of these ; and the last I saw of him on the field of 
battle, he was near the head of his column, and giving to its 
march a direction that would have placed him on the enemy's 
right. ******* Having been for some time wounded, and be- 
ing a good deal exhausted by loss of blood, it became my wish 
to devolve the command on General Scott, and retire from the 
field, but, on inquiry, I had the misfortune to learn that he was 
disabled by wounds ; I therefore kept my post, and had th« 
satisfaction to see the enemy's last effort repulsed." 

The crisis of this engagement was the moment when the- 
enemy's battery, which from its position commanded the field 
of action, was stormed by Miller's regiment. This charge 
was one of the finest achievements of the American army. 
General Brown said to the gallant Miller — " Sir, can you 
take that battery ?" " I will try," was the reply of the 
bluff soldier — a phrase now become familiar to all American 
lips. Scott, who was perfectly acquainted with the ground, 
conducted Miller, in the darkness of the night, some distance, 
till he had the right direction. He then returned to re- 
new the attack in front, in order to favor the movement of 
Miller. 

The enemy's battery being taken, and the ridge previously 
occupied by the enemy being gained, the American army 
changed position. It was now drawn up nearly at right angles 
to the lane, with its back to the river. Scott was on the right, 
Ripley in the centre, and Porter, with the militia, on the left. 
In this new position, the American line generally acted on 
the defensive. The British defeired to recover the ground 
they had lost, and made, several assaults. These were as 
often repulsed, but the enemy would again rally and return to 
the charge. 

It was in one of these contests General Brown had last 
seen Scott. About that time, the latter had twice formed 
small portions of his brigade into column, advanced, charged 
the British line, also advancing, pierced it, and compelled it to 
fall back. In such -a battle, with such impetuous courage, 
Scott vx^as necessarily exposed to all tlie dangers oi^ the field. 

4 










ho 

a 



o 
"a. 



u 









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BATTLE OF NIAGARA. 61 

Two horses were killed under him. In the midst, of the 
action, he was wounded in the side. At eleven o'clock in the 
night, he was disabled by a wound from a musket-ball through 
the left shoulder. His aid, Lieutenant Worth, and his brigade- 
major. Smith, were also both severely wounded. 

The contest closed by the possession of the field of battle 
by the Americans, and the capture of the enemy's cannon. 

The world has seen mightier armies moved over more me- 
morable fields, and followed by louder notes of the far-resound- 
ing trumpet of fame ; but a bloodier scene for those engaged, 
a severer trial of courage and of discipline, or one whose 
action was more closely associated with the sublime and beau- 
tiful in nature, the world has not seen. The armies were 
drawn out near the shores of that rapid river whose current 
mingles lake with lake. Hard by, was that cataract whose 
world of waters rushes over the precipice, and, rushing, roars 
into the gulf below ! The ceaseless spray rises up, like in- 
cense to the eternal Father ! The beams of sun, and moon, 
and stars, fall ceaselessly on that spray, and are sent back in 
many-colored hues to the source of light ! So was it when, 
wheeling into the field of battle, the slant beams of the setting 
sun, returning from the spray, encircled the advancing column 
with rainbow colors ! The sun went down, to many an eye, 
no more to rise on earth ! 

With the darkness came the greater rage of battle — charge 
after charge was made. For a time the faint beams of the 
moon struggled with the smoke, and gave a little light to the 
combatants ; but it was but little. The moon itself became 
obscured, and no light, save the rapid flashes of musket and 
cannon, pierced the heavy clouds. 

The fight raged in the darkness of the night. From the 
height on the ridge, the battery of the enemy still poured its 
deadly fire. 

It was then that the gallant Miller said, " I will try." It 
was then that Scott piloted his column through darkness to 
Lundy's Lane. It was then that brave regiment charged to 
the cannon's mouth. The battery was taken. The victory 
rests with the American army. 



52 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



4 



\ 



It was midnight. The battle is ended. The army, faint 
and weary, drags itself from the bloody plain. The well sink 
to their couch to dream of homes far away ! The wounded 
groan in their painful hospitals. The dead rest till the last 
trumpet shall summon them to the last array ! The warrior, 
with his garments rolled in blood, has left the scene of strug- 
gles, pains, and death ! Some kind friend may have sought 
him, whether alive or dead ; but the v/ar-drum had ceased to 
beat ; the artillery ceased to roll ; and now the solemn, sono- 
rous fall of Niagara is to the dead their requiem, and to the 
living their song of glory ! 

The battle of Niagara has been, by mistake or accident, 
commonly called in the United States, the battle of Bridfj^e- 
water. In the official report of the British general it was 
called the battle of Lundy's Lane. It has been usage, how- 
ever, to call a battle, or other important event, from the most 
remarkable object near the scene of action. Fought, as this 
battle was, near that miehtv cataract which makes one of the 
wonders of nature, on either side of the Atlantic ; fought too 
with a courage and a constancy worthy of such an associa- 
tion, why should it not be named from those loud, sounding 
waters ? Let it then be called, The Battle of Niagara. 
Let the memory of the dead, and the fame of the living, roll 
on with those waters to the distant future ! 

The American loss was 860 ; that of the British 878. 



SCOTt'S journey from NIAGARA TO PHILADELPHIA. IS RE- 
CEIVED AT PRINCETON. 

We last saw Scott on the field of Niagara. He was borne 
from that scene of glory, to the care of nurses and surgeons, 
a wounded and sufiering soldier. He had been wounded, as 
we have narrated, first by a spent ball, in the side, and next 
by a musket-ball whicli passed directly through the left 
shoulder. The last was a wound in its. nature sexious and 



54 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

painful. His recovery was, for a month, very doubtful. He 
lay, in great agony, at Buffalo and Williamsville. He was 
then removed to the house of his kind friend, Mr. Brisbane, 
in Batavia, and as soon as his health was sufficiently restored, 
he departed by easy journeys for Philadelphia, for the purpose 
of placing himself under the care of those distinguished 
surgeons, Drs. Physick and Chapman. 

At the classic and memorable ground of Princeton, an in- 
cident occurred, alike adapted to cheer the heart of the dis- 
abled soldier, and give propriety and freshness to his reception 
on the spot, where the muse of history has not disdained to 
dwell in the humble abodes of philosophy. 

The annual commencement at the College of New Jersey 
(Nassau Hall) happened to occur on the day Scott reached 
Princeton. Upon quitting the carriage, he was supported 
to a bed, intending, by easy stages, to reach Philadelphia • 
that niglit. It was soon whispered about, that General 
Scott had entered the town. The faculty of the college 
immediately sent a deputation to the hotel to invite his at- 
tendance at the churc*li. He suffered himself to be carried 
thither. Pale and meager, his left shoulder swollen and 
bandaged, his arm in a sling, and his furred surtout flung 
over his person, the invalid with difficulty ascended the stage 
where the exercises were performed. 

There, the president, trustees, and other dignitaries of the 
college, were waiting his slow approach, amidst learning, * 
beauty, and fashion, collected from far and near. The hands 
and kerchiefs of the ladies, as well as the voices of men, in- 
cluding hundreds of enthusiastic students, were in constant 
exercise. The rafters of the old edifice rang and re-echoed 
with applause. 

In Nassau Hall, it is customary to select the most graceful 
and elegant speaker to deliver the valedictory address On 
this day, the orator was Bloomfield M'llvaine, Esq. His 
theme was, " The public duties of a good citizen in peace and 
war" — a subject well adapted to the then situation of the 
country, and not improper at any time. Towards the close 
of his oration, the speaker turned to Scott, and in the most 



r' 



56 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

graceful and extemporaneous oratory, made him the personifi- 
cation of the civic and heroic virtues. Nothing could have 
been more happily adapted to the person and the subject. 
The sympathies of the audience burst forth in applause, alike 
to the young and disabled general who was personified, and to 
the eloquent and enthusiastic student whose ready genius had 
paid so just and beautiful a tribute. 



PUBLIC HONORS PAID TO GENERAL SCOTT. 

The war of 1812 being now ended, and Scott having passed 
from the battle-field to the domestic fireside, it is fit we should 
here review some of the promotions, compliments, and honors, 
which his country and countrymen, at various times, bestowed 
upon him, for his gallant and successful conduct. 

Scott entered the army in 1808, at twenty-two years of age. 
In 1814, when only twenty-eight, he had ascended to the high- 
est military rank, that of major-general, which is attainable 
in the United States. In a very short time also, he was dis- 
tinguished by honors and memorials, from various civil bodies 
and public authorities, such as have been seldom conferred 
upon one person, and upon one so young — perhaps never. 

The testimonials of legislative bodies, and of men engaged in 
civil and peaceful duties, to the merit and services of Scott, 
were not less strong than those which emanated from the ex- 
ecutive and the military functionaries. 

Near the close of the war. Congress passed a vote of thanks, 
in which Scott was not only specifically complimented for his 
skill and gallantry, in the conflicts of Chippewa and Niagara, 
but for his uniform good conduct throughout the laar — a compli- 
ment paid by Congress to no other officer. 

Resolution of Congress — approved Nov. 2d, 1814. 

" Resolved, that the President of the United States be re- 
quested to cause a gold medal to be struck, with suitable, em. 



58 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

blems and devices, and presented to Major- General Scott, in 
testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress of his dis- 
tinguished serviced, in the successive conflicts of Chippewa and 
Niagara, and of his uniform gallantry and good conduct in 
sustaining the reputation of the arms of the United States." 

The medal thus ordered by Congress, was presented by 
President Monroe, accompanied by the following address. 



Executive Mansion, February 26, 1825 ; 
in the presence of the Cabinet, 
many other distinguished persons. 



y 26, 1825 ; J 
)inet, and of > 
persons. ) 



President Monroe^s Address. 

" General Scott — Your conduct in the late war merited and 
obtained, in a high degree, the approbation of Congress and 
your country. In the battles of Chippewa and Niagara, in 
Upper Canada, in the campaign of 1814, your daring enter- 
prise and gallantry in action were eminently conspicuous. 

" In rendering justice to you, I recur with pleasure to the 
report made of those actions by the military commander, the 
most competent judge of your merit. In the battle of Chippe- 
wa, he says, you are entitled to the highest praise your coun- 
try can bestow ; and that we are indebted to you, more than to 
any other person, for the victory obtained in it. 

" In the battle of Niagara you commenced the action, and 
your gallantry in several severe encounters, until disabled by 
severe wounds, was equally distinguished. As a testimonial 
of the high sense entertained by Congress of your merit in 
those actions, I have the pleasure to present you this medal." 

The medal is a beautiful specimen of the numismatic art. 
It is large and of massive gold. The drawing shows both faces 
of the medal and its exact dimensions. The portrait of the 
general, in relievo, is true to life. The inscription on the re- 
verse face, as shown in the drawing, is surrounded with a 
wreath of palm and laurel, entwined about a serpent formed 
into a circle — emblem of youth and immortality, or youth 
crowned with victory. It is a cherished memorial of national 
gratitude. 

There is an incident connected with this medal which we 



SINGULAR INCIDENT. 59 

cannot forbear to relate. It is not an item of general history, 
and yet cannot fail to be interesting to the general reader. 
It illustrates a great principle of human action. It indi- 
cates how deeply the feeling of reverence for distinguished 
and brilliant services sinks into the heart, and how pure that 
feeling may remain when other and kindred virtues have 
yielded to temptation. 

This medal was deposited ,by General Scott, many years 
since, for safe keeping, in the City Bank of New York. Some 
time after, the bank was entered by false keys, and robbed of 
bullion and other funds to the large amount of two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. 

The first clerk, on entering the day after the robbery, dis- 
covered that the safe had been forced, and soon ascertained the 
extent of the loss. On examining the trunk in which the 
medal was deposited, he found, to his surprise and delight, that 
the medal was safe, though every dollar of the bullion deposit- 
ed with it had been taken. The matter was inexplicable to 
the officers of the bank. The robber had burst open the trunk, 
stripped it of its valuable contents, opened the case which en- 
closed the medal, and yet left that large piece of massive gold 
behind. No motive could be discovered for such an act. The 
robber was finally arrested, the funds recovered, and the law 
satisfied by a full term of service in the state prison. 

At a subsequent period, in passing down the Hudson River, 
on board a steamboat. General Scott's purse was abstracted 
from his pocket. The fact being made known to the chief of 
the police, the money was soon discovered and restored. It 
was during the progress of this investigation that the burglar 
who had robbed the City Bank reproached his confederates 
with their want of honorable bearing. He said, " that when he 
took the money from the City Bank he saw and well knew the 
value of the medal, but scorned to take from the soldier what 
had been given by the gratitude of his country." 

This incident is a curious phenomenon in the operations of 
the human mind. A man who made theft and robbery his 
profession, and felt no compunctions in seizing the property of 
others, groped his way with a dark lantern, through vaults 



60 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



and narrow passes, until at length he reached the object of 
his hopes. He broke the locks, and by his dim light discovered 
bags of gold. Fie seized them with avidity. In his search he 
discovered the medal of a patriot soldier. One current of 
virtuous feeling had not been corrupted. He replaced the treas- 
ure, and rejoiced that he yet loved his country and honored 
her defenders. » 




1 cannot take that Medal 

In February, 1816, both houses of the Virginia legislature 
passed unanimously a vote of thanks to General Scott, for his 
uniform good conduct in the war. At the same time the gov- 
ernor was directed to procure a suitable sword, with proper 
emblems and devices, and have the same presented to him as 
a memorial of their high estimation of his conduct. 

Resolutions of the Virginia Legislature. 

" Resolved unanimously, by the Senate and House of Dele- 
gates of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in general assembly 



PUBLIC HONORS PAID TO GENERAL SCOTT. 61 

convened, that the governor be, and he is hereby requested, to 
present the thanks of this general assembly to Major-General 
WiNFiELD Scott, a native citizen of this state, for his uniform 
good conduct in sustaining the military reputation of the United 
States, in every conflict or engagement in which he was pres- 
ent during the late war with England, but more especially in 
the successive engagements of Chippewa and Niagara. 

" Resolved, also unanimously, that the governor be, and he is 
hereby requested, to cause a suitable sword, with proper em- 
blems and devices thereon, to be presented to Major-General 
Scott, as a mark of the high opinion this assembly entertains 
of his gallantry and distinguished services, in the battles of 
Chippewa and Niagara. 

" Resolved, also unanimously, that the governor be, and he is 
hereby requested, to forward to Major-General Scott a copy 
of these resolutions, and to present, through him, the thanks 
of this assembly to his gallant associates in arms, during the 
campaign of 1814. 

" Unanimously agreed to in both houses, 
February 12, 1816. 

wm. Mumford, c. h. d:' 

About the same time with the passage of the resolutions we 
have recited, by the State of Virginia, others were passed of 
similar import, by the Legislature of the State of New York, 
along whose western frontier a large portion of Scott's public 
services had been rendered. The legislature empowered his 
Excellency Daniel D. Tompkins, then governor of that state, to 
present General Scott its thanks for his services, and a sword, 
which was done. The presentation took place on what is 
called in New York Evacuation Day. The following account 
of the proceedings has a more than common interest, by the 
peculiar aptness of the addresses made. 



62 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

In the City Hall of New York ; Anniversary, Nov. 
25th, 1816, of the Evacuation of the City by the 
British troops, at the end of the Revolutionary War. 

Governor Tompkins^ s Address to Major-General Scott. ^ 

" Sir— 

I avail myself of an anniversary commemorative of 
the exploits of our forefathers, to perform the pleasing duty ot 
proclaiming the gratitude of the people of this state to those 
descendants of the heroes of the Revolution, whose services in 
the late war have contributed so mainly to perpetuate the in- 
dependence which our venerated ancestors achieved, and to 
advance the glory of the American nation. 

" In adverting, sir, to your claims of distmction, it would be 
sufficient to say, that on all occasions you have displayed the 
highest military accomplishments, the most ardent attachment 
to the rights and honor of your country, and the most intrepid 
exertions in their support. A rapid and unprecedented suc- 
cession of promotions at an early age, has been the well- 
earned fruit of your talents. The distinguished notice by 
your government is the best encomium on your character, 
and the highest reward to which the virtuous and the great 
aspire. 

" But, sir, your military career is replete with splendid 
events. Without descending into too much minuteness, I may 
briefly refer to your exploits in the most interesting portion of 
the American continent. The shores of Niagara, from Erie 
to Ontario, are inscribed with your name, and with the names 
of your brave companions. The defeat of th:^ enemy at Fort 
George will not be forgotten. The memorable conflict on the 
plains of Chippewa, and the appalling night-battle on the 
Heights of Niagara, are events which have added new celebrity 
to the spots where they happened, heightening the majesty of 
the stupendous cataract, by combining with its natural, all the 
force of the moral sublime. The admirers of the great in 
nature, from all quarters of the globe, will forever visit the 
theatre of your achievements. They will bear to their distant 
homes the idea of this mighty display of nature, and will as- 



SCOTT VISITS EUROPE. 63 

sociate with it the deeds of you and your brothers in arms. 
And so long as the beautiful and sublime shall be objects of 
admiration among men ; so long as the whelming waters of 
Erie shall be tumbled into the awful depths of Niagara, so 
long shall the splendid actions in which you have had so con- 
spicuous a share, endure in the memory of man. 

" Accept, sir, the sword presented to you by the people of 
this state, as a pledge of their affection and gratitude for your 
distinguished services ; and may the remainder of your life be 
as serene and happy, as your early days have been useful and 
glorious." 



GENERAL SCOTT VISITS EUROPE. 

Soon after the close of the war. General Scott visited Europe 
by order of the government, both for the restoration of his health, 
and professional improvement. He was confidentially intrusted 
with diplomatic functions, to ascertain the temper and views 
of certain courts, respecting revolutionary struggles then com- 
menced in the Spanish provinces of America, and the appre- 
hended designs of Great Britain upon the Island of Cuba, — both 
at that time subjects of no little solicitude to the cabinet at 
Washington. *" 

On his return to the United States he was assigned to the 
command of the seaboard. His head-quarters were in the 
City of New York. In that city, and near it, at Elizabethtown, 
New Jersey, and in the same command, with the exception of 
two years at the west, he resided during the next twenty years. 
In March, 1817, he was married to Miss Maria Mayo, of Rich- 
mond, Virginia. They have several daughters, but no living 
son. 

After the return of General Scott from Europe, little oc- 
curred in his life beyond the ordinary duties of the command- 
ing general of division, until the Black-Hawk campaign of 
1832. 



64 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

BLACK-HAWK WAR. INCIDENTS AND SCENES CONNECTED WITH IT. 

The North American Indians, if not possessed of strong 
local attachments, have ever manifested a warm and almost 
sacred regard for the graves of their ancestors. When passing 
by, they strew handfuls of earth upon them. They part from 
these tombs with bitter regret, when necessity makes them 
wanderers from their native land ; and when generations have 
passed away, even remote descendants return to revisit and honor 
the spot where their dead have been laid. 

Th-e principal village of the Sacs and Foxes, for a long pe- 
riod of time, was on the beautiful river peninsula between 
Rock River and the Mississippi, and near their junction. 
Here, in the midst of a wilderness of beauty seldom equalled, 
on a soil so rich that the Indian women found little difficulty in 
planting and gathering their corn, a band of the Sacs resided, 
as late as 1830. Their chief, known as Black-Hawk, had 
been born on that ground. Annually they had planted their 
corn. They loved the rolling waters of Rock River. They 
loved the lovely island near its mouth ; and they loved, as the 
white man loves, scenes where, from youth to age, they had 
beheld the splendors of nature ; and they loved that ancient vil- 
lage spot which by repeated burials had become the mournful 
graveyard of the nation. 

By a treaty made with the chiefs of the Sacs, these lands 
east of the Mississippi were ceded to the whites; but it was 
also provided, that so long as they belonged to the United 
States, the Indians should have the privilege of living and hunt- 
ing upon them. The United States also guarantied the Indians 
against any intrusion of the white settlers. Trespasses, how- 
ever, did occur, by whites, in violation of the laws of Congress, 
and these acts, unrestrained by the United States government, 
were the exciting causes of the jealousy, irritation, and ulti- 
mate hostility of the Indians. In 1829, the United States put 
up to public sale, and it was sold, a portion of the Sac village, 
which was bought by an Indian trader. Black-Hawk, the Sac 
chief, became irritated, but was advised, that if the Indians 
had not sold the lands, and would remain quiet, they would be 



BLACK-HAWK WAR. 65 

undisturbed. On the idea that the Indians had not sold their 
village, he determined to remain. 

In the spring of 1831 the Indian squaws had planted their 
corn as usual, when it was ploughed up by the whites, and the 
trespasses against the Indians continued. Black-Hawk then gave 
notice to the whites, that they must remove from his village. 
On the 19th of May, 1831, a memorial was presented to the 
governor of Illinois, by eight of the settlers, representing that 
the Indians had threatened them, and were committing de- 
predations on the whites. On the 26th of May, the governor 
of Illinois writes, that he had called out seven hundred mili- 
tia to remove a band of Sac Indians. On the 28th of May, he 
writes the same to General Gaines. On the 29th of Mav, 
Gaines replies that he had ordered six companies of the United 
States troops from Jefferson Barracks to Rock Island, and four 
other companies from Prairie du Chien, the object of which 
was to repel invasion and secure the frontier. On the 30th of 
May, the United States troops reached Fort Armstrong. A 
conference held with the Indian chiefs there proved unavailing. 
General Gaines then called on the governor of Illinois for an 
additional force, and on the 25th of June, Governor Reynolds 
and General Joseph Duncan, with 1600 mounted militiamen, 
reached Rock River. On the morning of the 26th General 
Gaines took possession of the Sac village, without firing a gun 
or meeting an Indian. The Indian party had crossed the 
Mississippi, with their women and children, the night previous. 

On the 30th of June, General Gaines and Governor Rey- 
nolds concluded a treaty of capitulation, by which this band of 
the Sacs agreed to live west of the Mississippi. 

In April, 1832, Black-Hawk's band, in violation of this 
treaty, recrossed to the east side of the Mississippi, for the pur- 
pose, as they said, of joining the Winnebagoes above, and 
raising a crop of corn and beans with them. General Atkin- 
son, then in command of the United States troops at Fort Arm- 
strong, twice by express, informed Black-Hawk, that if he did 
not return peaceably he would be forced back. The Indians 
refused to be driven back, and at the same time determined 
not to make the first attack. 



66 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Black-Hawk, finding that the tribes of the Northwest would 
not join his standard, had resolved to recross the Mississippi. 
They were encamped at Kish-wa-cokee, when the event oc- 
curred which brought the opposing forces into actual conflict. 
The Illinois mounted militia had proceeded to Dixon's Ferry, 
a point on Rock River half way between Rock Island and the 
Indian encampment. From this point Major Stillman, with 
about two hundred and seventy-five mounted volunteers, pro- 
ceeded on a scouting expedition to Sycamore Creek, thirty 
miles further up the river. Hearing that these men were ap- 
proaching, Black-Hawk sent tnree young men to meet them 
with a white flag. These young men were met by the whites, 
and one of them taken prisoner and killed. Of a party of five 
Indians who followed the former one, with pacific intentions, 
two were also killed. The volunteers pursued till the whole 
force had crossed Sycamore Creek. Here, on the 14th of 
May, they met the warriors of Black-Hawk advancing to 
avenge their companions, were thrown into confusion, recross- 
ed the creek, and after the loss of twelve killed, were totally 
routed. 

The Indian success in this engagement encouraged them, 
while it alarmed the people of Illinois. On the 1 5th of May, 
Governor Reynolds issued his proclamation, calling out two 
thousand more militia, to meet at Hennepin on the 10th of 
June, 

From this time, during three months, a succession of actions 
took place between the whites and the Indians, with various 
success. The banks of the beautiful Rock River, of the Wis- 
consin, and even of the Mississippi, were stained with the blood 
of the red and the white man. Women and children were not 
spared, and more than one Indian squaw fell in battle. It is 
related, that at one place a ball broke the arm of a little child 
clinging to its mother's breast, and pierced her heart ; while 
the child, taken up by a kind American ofHccr, was healed 
and lived ! Starvation as well as war pursued the broken and 
flying Indians, whose place of refuge on the Wisconsin had 
been discovered, and they driven from it. A portion of tljem, 
including a number of women and children, attempted to crc 



BLACK-HAWK WAR. 



67 



down the Mississippi, but they were overtaken, and most of 
them captured or killed. 

The main body, under Black-Hawk, directed their course to 
the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Iowa River. Here they 
were overtaken, on the banks of the Mississippi, by General 
Atkinson, with an army of regulars and militia. They were 




The dead Indian mother and her child. 

defeated and dispersed in the battle called Bad Axe, with the 
loss of many killed and prisoners. Black-Hawk himself 
escaped, but was soon after taken and delivered up, on the 27th 
of August, to General Street the Indian agent, by an act of 
treachery on the part of two of his followers. 

Thus terminated what is called the Black-Hawk War, up- 
on which various opinions have been expressed, but of which 
the results were what they invariably have been in all contests 
between the Indians and the whites. The Indians were dis- 
possessed of their lands. They retreated yet further towards 
the setting sun, leaving the blood of warriors and the tears of 



68 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

women to water the grass which grew upon the graves of theil 
ancestors. The whites occupy their ancient fields, dig up 
with inquisitive hands the bones of the dead, rephint the soil 
with the rich and verdant maize, build among them other, more 
beautiful, and far more magnificent towns ; build other tombs, 
and bury other dead ; point their spires, like their hopes, to 
the blue summits of the skies, and fill the circled earth with 
the resounding fame of arts and arms ! 

In the beginning of July, 1832, Scott embarked at Bufililo, 
with a body of nearly one thousand troops, in four steamboats, 
for Chicago. The purpose was to reach Illinois as speedily as 
possible, and there co-operate with the United States forces 
under General Atkinson, and the Illinois mounted militia, in 
the campaign against the Indians. This purpose was counter- 
acted by one of those sudden, severe, and solemn dispensations 
of Providence, whicli arrests the best-concerted schemes, startles 
the strongest intellect, admonishes man of his weakness, and 
demonstrates, in wonderful ways, the power of God ! 

The Asiatic Cholera was this dispensation. A native of 
oriental countries, it was long supposed to be confined to 
Hindostan and the neighboring regions. But in 1831, it spon- 
taneously, and without any observed cause, burst from its 
former limits, and, like an avalanche, fell with fearful force 
upon Northern Europe. Crossing from Asia into Russia, it 
was stopped neither by lines of latitude, nor by the cold snows 
of Scandinavia. It entered Moscow, proceeded to St. Peters- 
burg, ravaged Hungary, and visited nearly all the populous 
and renowned cities of Germany. Before it reached either 
England or France, two hundred thousand persons had already 
been slain ! 

Over rivers and over lakes, over prairies and over forests, it 
swept with silent but fatal force. It crept along the low banks 
of streams, and it ascended with tlie morning mists the moun- 
tain side. In the throngs of populous citi( s, and in the solitude 
of thick woods, it was still the same. It struck with the same 
unrelenting hand the rosy cheek of childhood, an(i the hoary 
locks of age. The human race stood befoi'c it, lilco the forest 
trees or orchard's fruit before the whirlwind ; the storm comes, 



ASIATIC CHOLERA. 69 

and the trees fall, the limbs break, the shrubs bend, the fruit is 
scattered : the storm is passed, and the remaining trees stand 
surrounded by broken trunks aii^ by fallen branches ! 

Such was the precise effect of the cholera of 1832, in the 
United States. No history can exaggerate the suddenness, the 
terror, or the irresistible force of its approach. Many, who 
might be expected to fall first, escaped, while many of the 
bravest died even from fear. 

This was the enemy, the conqueror of conquerors, which at- 
tacked Scott's expedition up the lakes, and soon destroyed all 
its power or utility as a military corps. 

The Asiatic cholera, brought over the ocean in an emigrant 
ship, landed at Quebec in the beginning of June, 1832. Thence 
it proceeded immediately to Montreal, and thence up the St. 
Lawrence and the lakes with great rapidity. 

Scott had, as we have said, embarked at Buffalo for Chicago, 
in the beginning of July, with nearly a thousand men, in four 
steamboats. On the 8th of July, while on the bosom of the 
lake, the cholera broke out among the troops with great fa- 
tality. 

The facts attending the presence of this plague among the 
troops of the northwest have been carefully recorded by the 
journals of the country, and they will illustrate, as forcibly as 
any which can be produced, its fatal nature. 

General Scott, his staff, and about two hundred and twenty 
men, embarked in the steamboat Sheldon Thompson, in which, 
on the 8th of July, the cholera broke out. The boat arrived 
on the 10th inst., in the night, at Chicago, and in a short time 
left there. In these half dozen days, out of two hundred and 
twenty men, one officer and fifty-one men died,* and eighty 
were left sick at Chicago. 

In the steamboat Henry Clay embarked Col. Twiggs, with 
three companies of artillery, and two or three of infantry. 

The fate of these was even worse than that of those in the 
Sheldon. Even a greater mortality in proportion was ex- 
perienced, and several of the most promising officers perished. 
The troops were landed near Fort Gratiot, at the lower end of 
Lake Huron, in the neighborliood of which they in a few days 



70 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

met with most extraordinary sufferings. We have before us 
two accounts of the scenes there, and both, authentic statements 
of actual witnesses. 

One is written to the Journal of Commerce, apparently by an 
odicer. It says, July 10 — 

" Our detachment, which consisted of about four hundred, 
has dwindled down to about one hundred and fifty, by pestilence 
and desertion. 

" The dead bodies of the deserters are literally strewed 
along the road between here and Detroit. No one dares give 
th-em relief, not even a cup of water. A person on his way 
from Detroit here, passed six lying groaning with the agonies 
of the cholera, under one tree, and saw one corpse, by the 
road-side, half eaten up by the hogs!" 

Mr. Norvell, of Detroit, writes thus to the editor of the 
Philadelphia Enquirer. 

" These troops, you will recollect, landed from the steam- 
boat Henry Clay, below Fort Gratiot. A great number of 
them have been swept off by the disease. Nearly all the 
others have deserted. Of the deserters scattered all over the 
country, some have died in the woods, and their bodies have 
been devoured by the wolves. I use the language of a gallant 
young officer. Others have taken their flight to the world of 
spirits, without a companion to close their eyes, or console the 
last moments of their existence. Their straggling survivors are 
occasionally seen marching, some of them know not whither, 
with their knapsacks on their backs, shunned by the terrified 
inhabitants as the source of a mortal pestilence." 

At Chicago, as before and after. General Scott exposed him- 
self, though* ill, by attending every officer and soldier taken 
sick. His conduct, in the continual care and effort for those 
under his charge, has been testified to by numbers of witnesses, 
themselves actors and observers in these scenes. 

Of the nine hundred and fifty men who left Buffalo, the 
number was in a short time so reduced, that no more than four 
hundred were left. Scott was detained by these melancholy 
occurrences, for several days, at Chicago. As soon as he was 
released, he loft Colonel Eustis to follow with his reduced com- 



ASIATIC^CHOLERA. 



71 



mand, and hastened across the prairies to join General Atkin- 
son on the Mississippi. He found him at Prairie du Chien, on 
the 3d of Auo-iist, the dav after tlie battle of Bad Axe. 



L 



iii 




' Soldier dying with the Cholera. 

The fugitive Indians were soon brought in prisoners, both 
with the remainder of the Sac and Fox confederacy, which had 
remained in a state of doubtful neutrality, and with the Win- 
nebago nation, which had covertly given aid to Black-Hawk's 
hand. 

In the mean while, about the middle of August, the cholera 
broke out among the regulars of Atkinson's army, ^t Rock 
Island, whither Scott had descended from Fort Crawford, Prai- 
nv. i!u Ciiit-n. 

Here Scott was called upon to exercise his ^vonted kindness 
bv (JtlcnJance upon tho sick aad Uio dvinir Night and dav 



72 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

he visited and comforted them, himself always, when near it, 
laboring under some of the symptoms of the disease. Feeble 
in body, he was yet almost constantly in attendance on the 
afflicted. Great were his efforts to prevent the spread of the 
disease, and to overcome the symptoms of panic, scarcely less 
to be dreaded than the original calamity, which from time to 
time were exhibited. The mortality was appalling, but at 
length, on the 8th of September, the infection disappeared. 

To Scott's humane and generous conduct, throughout this 
terrible battle with pestilence, both at Rock-Island and on the 
Lakes, we have the testimony of one who was an eye-witness, 
and whose situation made him in all respects disinterested. 
We shall quote his own words — a language as reliable as that 
of official documents. He says that " the general's course of 
conduct on that occasion should establish for him a reputation 
not inferior to that which he has earned in the battle-field ; and 
should exhibit him not only as a warrior, but as a man — not 
only as the hero of battles, but as the hero of humanity. It is 
well known that the troops in that service suffered severely 
from the cholera, a disease frightful enough from its rapid and 
fatal effects, but which came among us the more so, from the 
known inexperience of our medical men, and from the general 
belief, at that time, in its contagiousness. Under such circum- 
stances it was clearly the general's duty to give the best gen- 
eral directions he could for proper attendance on the sick, and 
for preventing the spread of the disease. When he had done 
this, his duty was performed, and he might have left the rest 
to his medical officers. But such was not his course. Pip. 
thought he had other duties to perform, that his personal safety 
must be disregarded to visit the sick, to cheer the well, to en- 
courage the attendants, to set an example to all, and to prevent 
a panic — in a word, to save the lives of others at the risk of 
his own. All this he did faithfully, and when he could have 
had no other motive than that of doing good. Here was no 
glory to be acquired ; here were none of the excitements of the 
battle-field ; here was no shame to be avoided, or disgrace to 
be feared : because his o^eneral arrane^cments and directions to 
those whose imrt it was to battle with sickness, had satisfied 



w 



< 



7C 




74 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

duty. His conduct then exhibited a trait in his charactei 
which made a strong impression on me, and which, in my 
opinion, justice requires should not be overlooked." 

This is the language of a calm and impartial observer, an 
intelligent officer of the army. It proves that the laurels of 
Niagara had bloomed again on the banks of the Mississippi, 
but no longer with crimson flowers. They now appear in 
those soft and lovely hues which make them kindred with the 
kindest and gentlest of human emotions. 

Near the middle of September, the cholera having subsided, 
the negotiations commenced with the Indian tribes, for the final 
settlement of difficulties. The scene of negotiation was Rock 
Island. The commissioners on the part of the United States 
were General Scott and Governor Reynolds. There, for sev- 
eral weeks, they received and entertained parties of the Sacs 
Foxes, Winnebagoes, Sioux, and Menomonies — all warlike 
nations, and often at war with one another. They now ap- 
peared — constrained into peace or neutrality by the presence 
of well-disciplined battalions — mingling together in the wild 
and martial costume of their race. 

When the chiefs and warriors of the confederacy on ex- 
traordinary occasions approached head-quarters, it was always 
with the loud tramp and shout, which seemed to be rather the 
clangor of war than the forms of ceremony. When a council 
was to meet, they came at a furious charge ; suddenly dis- 
mounted, arranged themselves in order, and then, between 
lines of soldiers, entered the pavilion with the firmness of 
victors, but with all the deep solemnity of a funeral. Arrayed 
in scarlet hues, their national color, sometimes on foot and 
sometimes mounted, nothing could be more striking than the 
fine figures, arms, and costume of the men. Their wives and 
daughters, too, were better looking, better clothed and orna- 
mented, than other Indian women, and generally sustained the 
reputation of virtue and modesty. 

Of these tribes, the Sacs and Foxes, kindred and confederate 
clans, were the dandies and sometimes the Mamelukes of the 
forest. Though not very numerous, they are the first in war, 
the first in the chase, and the first in all that constitutes Indian 






I 










76* LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

wealth — cattle, horses, and clothing. Among these there was 
a master spirit, the celebrated Ke-o-kuck, a Sac, then in the 
prime of life, tall, robust, manly, and who excelled all the sur- 
rounding red-men in wisdom and eloquence in council, in the 
majestic graces of the Indian dance, and in bold adventure 
against the buffalo, the bear, and the hostile Sioux and Meno- 
mine. Yet this person was not by birth a chief, and therefore 
held no hereditary power. He rose to be head man of the na- 
tion simply by his superior abilities. Becoming jealous of him, 
however, the tribe at one titne deposed him. From this degra- 
dation, which he bore with great patience and equanimity, he 
was not altogether restored at the time of the treaty of Rock- 
Island. He was at that time a kind of treasurer and keeper 
of the records for the nation. In consequence of his great 
merit and talent. General Scott prevailed upon the principal 
persons of the nation again to elevate him to the chieftaincy, 
from which he has not been again removed. 

The scenes exhibited during these conferences, were of the 
deepest interest and the most picturesque kind. They were 
adapted rather to the pencil of a poet or a painter than to the 
grave records of history. The wild son of nature, scarcely more 
barbarous than •those old Greek warriors whose names the 
song of Homer has borne from age to age on the wings of 
fame, here confronted the man of art and civilization, face to 
face, in warlike array, and in peaceful amusement. The 
song, the dance, the chase, the rolling drum and the whoop- 
ing shout, the white soldier and the tawny maiden, were 
mino-led tojrether in this conference between the retreatinjr 
representatives of barbarism and the advancing children of im- 
provement. 

In the afternoons the scene was frequently enlivened by In- 
dian dances at head-quarters. These dances are generally 
pantomimes, remarkably descriptive of the achievements, 
events, and history of the individual or the tribe. They are 
exhibited by a large number of young warriors at the same 
time, to the music of rude instruments, and accompanied by 
occasional whoopings. The dancers are strictly attentive to 
time and order, rendering their voices accordant by ^the modu- 



78 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

lation of the hand. The figures are principally, the war, 
buffalo, and corn dances. 

The Sac chief Ke-o-kuck executed a pas seul, presenting a 
spirited account of a war expedition, which he had himself, 
conducted against the Sioux. The spectator having only a 
slight intimation of the subject, had yet presented distinctly to 
his mind the whole story in its vivid details. He si^vz the dis- 
tance overcome, the mountains and streams passed, the scouts 
of the enemy slain, the crooked, stealthy approach, the ambush 
laid, the terrible whoop and onslaught, and the victory which 
followed^ as the crownmg triumph of the warrior. 

Sometimes these Indian dances were followed by cotillions, 
to the music of a military band, in which the American officers 
mixed, as partners and instructors of the Indians. Tlie Indian 
ladies were too modest to ena-as^e in these amusements, but 
graced the scene with their presence, and testified their en- 
joyment by cheers and laughter. Meanwhile, a guard of 
grenadiers looked on with quiet delight — martial music sent 
forth its melody, fireworks sent up their red light and gleamed 
against the evening sky, shells and rockets burst in the air, 
the distant hills returned the echo, and these were mingled 
with the shrill shrieks of Indian applause. Refreshments were 
handed round nearly in the manner of our cities. Thus the 
white and the red man, the son of the forest and the pupil of 
cities, the aboriginal and the Anglo-Saxon, were mingled to- 
gether in social amusements with strong and singular con* 
trast. 

The conferences and treaty which followed were of high 
importance, both to the Indians and the United States. Gov- 
ernor Reynolds being an eminent lawyer and a high political 
functionary, was requested to take the lead in the councils. 
He, however, declining, it devolved on General Scott to con- 
duct the discussions. His speeches, and those of the Indian 
orators were ably and promptly interpreted and taken down at 
the time, by the secretary to the commissioners, the late tal- 
ented and accomplished Captain Richard Bache, of the army. 
By him they were deposited in the archives of the war depart, 
ment. 



NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE INDIANS. 79 

The interviews with the deputations of the Sioux and Meno- 
tnonies were interesting, although merely incidental to the war, 
which was now about to be terminated. But with the con- 
federacy to which Black-Hawk belonged, as also with the 
Winnebagoes, their accomplices, the negotiations and their 
results were at once grave and important. Scott opened the 
council wkh a speech to the Sacs and Foxes. He paid a just 
compliment to Ke-o-kuck and certain other chiefs, for their 
prudence and patriotism in preventing the larger body of their 
people from rushing mto a war, which Black-Hawk madly 
expected, with twelve hundred warriors, to carry to the shores 
of the lakes and the Ohio ! He adverted to the fact, that the 
Mississippi was passed and the invasion commenced, without 
it being known to the government or people of the United States, 
that any serious cause of complaint existed on the part of their 
red brethren. He declaimed against the crime of violating a 
solemn treaty of friendship, such as had long existed between 
the parties ; against the murders and desolations committed 
upon defenceless and unoffending settlers. He complimented 
Brigadier-General Atkinson and his troops on their vigorous 
pursuit and final defeat of the lawless invaders ; recalled the 
pains which had been taken for weeks after the battle, to hunt 
up the wounded, the women and children, to save them from 
imminent starvation ; and the extraordinary care, seen and ^- 
roired by all, which had been bestowed on those pitiable cap- 
tives. He contrasted these acts of humanity with the cruelties 
perpetrated on the other side ; and took care that the great 
superiority of Christianity and civilization should be perceived 
find felt by all who heard him. 

He next turned to the question of settlement, under the in- 
structions received by the commissioners, stated the cost of the 
war to the United States to be more than a million of dollars ; 
and claimed the right of holding, without further price, any 
reasonable portion of the enemy's country, then in the power 
of the conquerof^s ; and after laying down the principle of in- 
demnity in its utmost rigor, he concluded — " But, as the great 
God above, alike the Father of the white and red man, often 
deals mildly with his children, even when they have grossly 



80 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

sinned against his holy law and their own best interests, sc 
would the people of the United States, in the fulness of their 
power, imitate the Divine example, and temper justice with 
mercy, in dealing with their feeble brethren of the forest." 

These discussions finally ended in the consummation of 
treaties with these tribes, which secured to the United States 
immensely valuable tracts of land, while it also secured to the 
Indians peace and protection. 

In his transactions with several tribes of Indians, Scott had 
the good fortune to be regarded by them as a friend and a 
brother. He has since, in the East, been visited by both Ke- 
o-kuck and Black-Hawk ; and more recently, (in 1839,) has 
been most kindly received by the Winnebagoes, at their own 
homes in Wisconsin. 

In allusion to these transactions with the Indians, and to liis 
generous services in ameliorating the horrors and sufferings 
produced by the cholera, the Secretary of War, General Cass, 
said, in reply to Scott's final report : — 

" Allow me to congratulate you, sir, upon this fortunate con- 
summation of your arduous duties, and to express my entire 
approbation of the whole course of your proceedings, during a 
series of difficulties requiring higher moral courage than the 
operations of an active campaign, under ordinary circumstan- 

0^." 

The assertion of the secretary was entirely correct ; for 
there have not been wanting those who had defied, in the high 
hope of glory, all the death-dealing agents of the bloody battle ; 
and yet, as if terror-stricken by some invisible power, have 
quietly sunk under the fears of pestilence. Those who knew 
best, have testified in this as in other actions, not only to the 
moral courage, but to that invaluable trait of character, a sa- 
gacious presence of mind, in General Scott, which has borne 
him successfully through all the varied scenes of danger, of 
enterprise, and of high intellectual demand, either moral or 
physical, into which his active life has led hir]% 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 81 



GENERAL SCOTt's AGENCY IN SUPPRESSING NULLIFICATION IN 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

General Scott had scarcely returned from the scenes of 
Indian wars and Indian treaties in the West, when he was 
called to mingle in others on the Southern border, which 
threatened far more danger to the peace and safety of the 
American Union. He arrived at New York in October, 1832, 
and had been with his family but a day or two, when he was 
ordered to Washington to receive a new mission and a new 
trust. After a conference with the president and cabinet, on 
the difficulties which had arisen in South Carolina, he was 
dispatched in that direction on a business of the greatest deli- 
cacy and importance, and with powers requiring the exercise 
of the highest discretion. 

This difficulty was the attempt to nullify the revenue laws 
of the United States, by the action of a single state, South Caro- 
lina. This theory, and the events which followed its assertion 
in that state, are commonly called "nullification." It is un- 
necessary here to discuss any of the opinions held by various 
men and parties in the questions connected with a tariff of rev- 
enue duties, or with the reserved rights of the states. It is 
necessary, however, to give the reader a candid statement of 
the facts and events in this singular portion of American his- 
tory, in order that the precise situation of the country, when 
General Scott arrived at Charleston, its internal dangers, and 
the part he had in quieting those difficulties, may be fairly 
understood. In this, there is no need of inquiring into motives, 
and little chance of error ; for the parts of the several actors 
were performed in public, recorded by the public press, and 
sent upon the winds by the voices of a thousand witnesses. It 
was not so, however, with the part of General Scott ; for his 
duties were confidential. They were required to be performed 
with silence and delicacy. Hence, however much might de- 
pend upon his discretion, the mere fact of its exercise afforded 
little that was tangible and expressive to the pen of history. 

Yet we shall see, that his position and conduct there exercised 

4* 



82 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

a controlling influence over the event, and contributed mainly 
to the peaceful termination of the controversy. 

The excitement which terminated in what was called " nul- 
lification," commenced in consequence of the passage of the 
tariff act of 1828. That act raised the revenue duties levied 
on the importation of foreign goods higher than any previous 
revenue act of the United States. It was passed avowedly for 
the protection of American industry. It was resisted by nearly 
all the representatives of the cotton-planting states, on the 
ground that it was injurious to their interests and contrary to 
the Constitution of the United States. They argued, that the 
greater the duties, the less the importations ; and that the less 
the importations, the less would be the exportations ; because 
foreign nations would have less ability to purchase. They 
deemed it unconstitutional, because they said it was unequal 
taxation. 

This was the substance of the argument by which a majority 
of the citizens of South Carolina arrived at a belief, that the 
tariff act was both injurious to them, and unconstitutional. On 
this belief, they proceeded to resist the act by public meetings 
and inflammatory resolves, and finally to advance and carry out 
the doctrines of nullification. 

The tariff act of 1828 was passed on the 15th of May of that 
year, and from that time henceforward for more than four years, 
a continual excitement "was kept up in the extreme southern 
states, especially South Carolina and Georgia. In South Caro- 
lina, however, the most ultra measures were proposed, and 
there the question was brought to a direct issue, and bloodshed 
even, only averted by the great caution of the public oflicers, 
and the milder temperament of Congress. 

The following address to the people of South Carolina, ex- 
hibits the temper of the public mind at that time. 

" What course is left us to pursue ? If we have the com- 
mon pride of men, or the determination of freemen, we must 
resist the imposition of this tariff. We stand committed. To 
be stationary is impossible. We must either retrograde in dis- 
honor and in shame, and receive the contempt and scorn of our 
brethren superadded to our wrongs, and their system of op- 



l^ULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 83 

pression strengthened by our toleration ; or we must ' by op- 
posing, end them.' 

" In advising an attitude of open resistance to the laws of the 
Union, we deem it due to the occasion, and that we may not 
be misunderstood, distinctly but briefly to state, without argu- 
ment, our constitutional faith. For it is not enough that im- 
posts laid for the protection of domestic manufactures are 
oppressive, and transfer in their operation millions of our 
property to northern capitalists. If we have given our bond, 
let them take our blood. Those who resist these imposts must 
deem them unconstitutional, and the principle is abandoned by 
the pay.<ient of one cent as much as ten millions." 

Such were the strains by which South Carolina was called 
to believe herself deeply injured, her feelings outraged, and 
her rights violated. " But how," says the orator, " are we to 
interpose for the purpose of arresting the progress of the evil ?" 
To this he replies — " A nullification, then, of the unauthorized 
act is the rio;htful remedy." 

Mr. John C. Calhoun, in a letter dated " Fort Hill, 30th 
of July, 1832," declared that nullification was a peaceful 
remedy, and necessary to the preservation of other powers. 

" The ungrounded fear," said he, " that the right of a state 
to interpose in order to protect her reserved powers against the 
encroachments of the general government, would lead to dis- 
union, is rapidly vanishing, and as it disappears, it will be 
seen that so far from endangering, the right is essential to the 
preservation of our system, as essential as the right of suffrage 
itself. 

*' Thus thinking, I have entire confidence that the time will 
come, when our doctrine, which has been so freely denounced 
as traitorous and rebellious^ will be hailed as being the great 
conservative principle of our admirable system of government, 
and when those who have so firmly maintained it under so 
many trials, will be ranked among the great benefactors of the 
country." 

The doctrine of "state interposition" against the general 
government, is here defended as an essential right, and the 
future approbation of the people confid.^atly expected. 



S4 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

To understand the exact state of things in South Carolina, 
at that time, and the conflict likely to ensue between the ma- 
'ority in the state supporting nullification by the state power, 
and the general government executing the laws, with a mi- 
nority in South Carolina supporting it, we must review two or 
three other important movements. 

The doctrines of Mr. McDufhe, Major Hamilton, Mr. Cal- 
houn, and other leaders of the nullification party, were as 
strongly opposed by other distinguished men in South Carolina. 

Judge Smith, formerly United States Senator, in an address 
to the people of Spartanburgh district, thus writes — "To say 
you can resist the general government, and remain in the 
Union, and be at peace, is a perfect delusion, calculated only 
'to hoodwink an honest community, until they shall have ad- 
vanced too far to retrace their steps ; which they must do, and 
do with disgrace and humiliation, or enter upon a bloody con- 
flict with the general government. For the general govern- 
ment cannot bow its sovereignty to the mandates of South 
Carolina, while the Union is worth preserving. And be as- 
sured, it will not bow to the mandate of any state, while the 
sovereign people believe that a confederated government is 
calculated to promote their peace, their honor, and their safety." 

It is seen that the political ideas inculcated in the extract 
last quoted, are directly opposed to those stated in the former 
extract from the letter of Mr. Calhoun. The latter assumes 
the supremacy of the Union, the former that of the State, 
under the name of state interposition. Hence, in the contro- 
versy which ensued, the party of the majority was known 
as the nullification jMrty, and that of the minority as the 
Union party. The controversy between the two parties in 
South Carolina was even more excited than that between the 
state and the general government. This was the condition of 
things when, in October, 1832, the legislature passed an act 
providing for the " calling of a convention of the people" of 
that state. The object of this convention in the terms of the 
act, was " to take into consideration the several acts of the 
Congress of the United States, imposing duties on foreign im- 
ports for the protection cf domestic manufactures, or for other 



y 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 85 

unauthorized objects ; to determine on the character thereof, 
and to devise the means of redress." 

The convention elected according to this statute, assembled 
at Columbia, the seat of government, on the 19th of November, 
1S32. The convention being assembled, enacted an " ordi- 
nance," whose title was " to provide for arresting the operation 
of certain acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting - 
to be taxes laying duties and imposts on the importation of for- 
eign commodities." 

On the final passage of the ordinance the word " nullify" 
was substituted for " arresting." 

This ordinance assumed to nullify the laws of the United 
States, to prevent the operation of the courts, and finally, to 
place all officers under oath to obey only the ordinance, and the 
laws made to give it effect. 

The 2d section pronounced the tariff acts of 1829 and 1832 
'• null, void, and no law, nor binding upon the state, its officers, 



or citizens." 



The 3d section declared it unlawful '•' for 'any of the consti- 
tuted authorities, whether of the state or the United States, to 
enforce payment of the duties imposed by said acts, within the 
limits of the state." • 

The 4th section ordered that no case of law or equity deci- 
ded in that state, wherein was drawn in question the validity 
of that ordinance, or of any act of the legislature passed to give 
it effect, should be appealed to the supreme court of the United 
States, or regarded if appealed. 

Section 5th required that every one who held an office of 
honor, trust, or profit, civil or military, should take an oath to 
obey only this ordinance, and the laws of the legislature passed 
in consequence of it. 

The 6th section declared, that if the general government 
should employ force to carry into effect its laws, or endeavor 
to coerce the state by shutting up its ports, that South Carolina 
would consider th^: TInion dissolved, and would " proceed to 
organize a separate government." 

This was the state of things in South Carolina, and in the 
f^nion, when, on the 10th of JDecember, 1832, General Jackson 



86 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

issued his proclamation, exhorting all persons to obey the 
laws, denouncing the ordinance of South Carolina, and giving 
a very clear exposition of the principles and powers of the gen- 
eral government. This proclamation was written with great 
ability, and coming from the most popular man in the United 
States, exercising the functions of chief magistrate, and taking 
part with that love of union which, in all times and all cir- 
cumstances, has beeri an element in American character, the 
proclamation was universally read, and almost universally re- 
ceived with approbation and applause. The legislature of 
South Carolina answered in an appeal to the people of that 
state. 

Just before this point in history, General Scott had been 
called, in the exercise of his military functions, to perform a 
part, not very conspicuous to the public eye, but most import- 
ant in its consequences to the Union and the future welfare of 
the republic. What part that was will be shown by the unim- 
peachable testimony of authentic facts. 

On the 18th of November, 1832, a confidential order was 
issued from the war department to General Scott. The order, 
after expressing the President's solicitude as to affairs in South 
Carolina, a hope from the intelligence of the people, and a fear 
lest some rash attempt should be made against the forts of the 
United States in the harbor of Charleston, proceeds to say : — 

*' The possibility of such a measure furnishes sufficient rea- 
son for guarding against it, and the President is therefore anx- 
ious that the situation and means of defence of these fortifica- 
tions, should be inspected by an officer of experience, who 
could also estimate and provide for any dangers to which they 
may be exposed. He has full confidence in your judgment 
and discretion, and it is his wish that you repair immediately 
to Charleston, and examine every thing connected with the 
fortifications. You are at liberty to take such measures, either 
by strengthening these defences, or by reinforcing these gar- 
risons with troops drawn from any other posts, as you may 
think prudence and a just precaution require. 

" Your duty will be one of great importance, and of great 
delicacy. You will consult fully and freely with the collector 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 87 

of the port of Charleston, and with the district attorney of South 
Carolina, and you will take no step, except what relates to the 
immediate defence and security of the posts, without their 
order and concurrence. The execution of the laws will be 
enforced through the civil authority, and by the mode pointed 
out by the acts of Congress. Should, unfortunately, a crisis 
arise, when the ordinary power in the hands of the civil officers 
shall not be sufficient for this purpose, the President shall de- 
termine the course to be taken and the measures adopted. Till, 
therefore, you are otherwise instructed, you will act in obedi- 
ence to the legal requisitions of the proper civil officers of the 
United States. 

" I will thank you to communicate to me, freely and con- 
fidentially, upon every topic on which you may deem it im- 
portant for the government to receive information. 

" Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Lewis Cass." 
" Major-General Wiufield Scotl." 

General Scott arrived in Charleston on the 28th of Novem- 
ber, just two days after the passage of the ordinance. All was 
excitement. He found the people of Charleston divided into 
two parties, nearly equal in point of numbers, and each exas- 
perated towards the other. 

It was as important that he should not, by his presence or 
his acts, increase the excitement of the public mind, already 
too much inflamed, thus precipitating rash measures on the 
part of South Carolina, as it was that, in the last resort, he 
should maintain the supremacy of the laws held to be consti- 
tutional by every department of the federal government, and 
alike binding on all the states. This duty he was resolved to 
execute at every hazard to himself, but with all possible cour- 
tesy and kindness compatible with that paramount object. In 
this, his heart's warm feeling was, that the disaffected might 
be soothed, and South Carolina held in affectionate harmony 
with her sister states. 

If history be not silent on the events which then occurred, 



88 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

or on the part taken by distinguished citizens of South Carolina, 
still less should it omit a just testimony to the forbearance and 
prudence of the general and troops of the United States em- 
ployed in so delicate and dangerous a service. 

The officers and men of the army and navy bore themselves 
with the meekness and solemnity proper to so grave and-'un- 
usual a duty. In no instance did they indulge in any display^ 
except on the 22d of February. 

Then rockets blazing through the skies, and guns sounding 
over the waters, told that, as Americans, they remembered and 
blessed the anniversary of that day, which gave birth to the 

FATHER OF THE COUNTRY AND THE UNION ! On Other OCCasions, 

every individual in that service, though firm in his allegiance 
and resolved to do his duty, evinced by his deportment how 
painful that duty might become. Scott gave both the precept 
and the example. Many officers, like himself, had frequent 
occasion to visit the city. Boats' crews were constantly pass- 
ing and repassing. It was agreed among the officers, and en- 
joined on the men, to give way to everybody, and not even to 
resent an indignity, should one be offered ; but to look on Caro- 
linians as their fellow-countrymen, whom all were anxious to 
reclaim from an unhappy delusion. These rules of forbear- 
ance were absolutely necessary, because any soldier or sailor, 
in a drunken rencounter, might have brought on all the evils of 
a bloody affray. 

Just at the period of the utmost anxiety, when all hearts 
were anxious lest the morrow should bring forth civil conflict, 
a fire was seen from Fort Moultrie, at twilight, rising from 
Charleston, rapidly spreading, and threatening the city with 
destruction. General Scott happened to be the first who per- 
ceived the conflagration, and with great promptness called for 
volunteers to hasten to the assistance of the inhabitants. All 
the officers and men were eager for the service, and, with the 
exception of a mere guard, all were dispatched in boats and 
without arms, to subdue the new and dreadful enemy. Each 
detachment was directed to report itself to some city officer, 
and to ask for employment. A detached officer preceded to 
expl ain the object of this sudden intrusion. Captain Ringgold of 



90 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

the army, since promoted, and subsequently slain on the battle- 
field of Palo Alto, who commanded a detachment, rushed up to 
the intendant, (mayor,) and begged to be put to work. A citizen 
standing by, at once claimed his assistance to save a sugar- 
refinery, then in imminent danger. "Do you hear that?" 
said Captain Ringgold to his men : '^ we will go to the death for 
the sugar/'' This was in allusion to the famous threat of 
Governor Hamilton, in respect to his importation of that article, 
before the boxes had arrived, that " they would go to the death 
for the sugar." It may be added, that the detachment in- 
stantly repaired to the spot, and the refinery was saved. Nor 
was the good-humored quotation lost on the hundreds who 
heard it. 

The navy was not behind the army in this act of neighborly 
kindness. Both were early at the scene of distress. And all, 
after distinguishing themselves for zeal and energy, returned 
as sober and as orderly as they went, notwithstanding refresh- 
ments had been profusely handed round by the citizens. 

It is not extravagant to say, that this timely movement, so 
well conceived and so handsomely executed, overcame much 
of the excitement and prejudice existing against the United 
States, here represented by their soldiers and sailors. These 
men threw themselves, unexpected and unarmed, in the midst 
of a population strongly excited against them, and by saving a 
city from fire, powerfully contributed to save the Union from 
the fjreater horrors of civil war. The efTect was immediate on 
the spot, and was soon spread to other parts of the state. It 
was one of those acts better adapted to sooth the asperities of 
feeling, than would have '»een any degree of courage, or suc- 
cess, in the forcible maintenance of the law. 

At this distance of time, the part performed by Scott may 
not seem of great importance. But he who thinks so should 
recollect, that history is obliged to trace the greatest events 
oftentimes to very small causes ; and that such a part as Scott's 
at Charleston, though having neither the crimson glare of bat- 
tle, nor the extraordinary skill of some artful act of diplomacy, 
may nevertheless have been the hinge of a crisis, and therefore 
more important than many battles. It is the handling of a 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 91 

delicate subject which makes it difficult, far more than the 
settlement of a question of exact right or wrong. 

Of the part which Scott bore in ilie pacification of the South, 
we shall here give the words of Mr. Watkins Leigh, of Vir- 
ginia, who stood high in the confidence of all parties, whose 
evidence is unimpeachable, and who had ample opportunities 
of observinfT all that was done. He savs — 

" I was at Charleston when he (Scott) arrived and as- 
sumed the connnand, which he did without any parade or fuss. 
No one who had not an opportunity of observing on the spot the 
excitement that existed, can have an adequate conception of 
the delicacy of the trust. General Scott had a large acquaint- 
ance with the people of Charleston ; he was their friend ; but 
his situation was such that many, the great majority of them, 
looked upon him as a public enemy. What his orders were, 
I cannot undertake to tell you, nor have I any means of 
knowing but from his conduct, which, I take it for granted, 
conformed with them. He thought, as I thought, that the first 
drop of blood s^jed in civil war, in civil war between the United 
States and one of the states, would prove an immedicable 
wound, which would end in a change of our institutions. He 
was resolv^edy if it was possible, to prevent a resort to arms ; 
and nothing could have been more judicious than his conduct. 
Far from being prone to take offence, he kept his temper under 
the strictest f^uard, and was most careful to avoid iiivins: occa- 
sion for offence ; yet he held himself ready to act, if it should 
become necessary, and he let tha%be distinctly understood. 
He sought the society of the leading nullifiers, and was in their 
society as much as they would let him be, but he took #are 
never to say a word to them on the subject of political difTer- 
ences ; he treated them as a friend. From the becinnino- to 
the end, his conduct was as conciliatory as it was firm and 
sincere, evincing that he knew his duty, and was resolved to 
perform it, and yet that his principal object and purpose was 
peace. He was perfectly successful, when the least impru- 
dence min;ht have resulted in a serious collision." 

We subjoin extracts from a letter from Major-General Scotl 
to a distinguished leader and friend, a member of the South 



92 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Carolina Legislature, then in session at Columbia, in order tO 
show the spirit and temper in which he discharged the delicate 
duties assigned him. 

« Savannah, Dec. 14th, 1832. 

" My Dear Sir, — 

" You have an excellent memory to re- 
mind me, after so long an interval, of my promise to visit you 
when next on a tour to the South, and I owe you an apology 
for not earlier acknowledging your kind letter. It was handed 
to me just as I was about to leave Charleston, and I have 
been since too constantly in motion (to Augusta, and back 
here) to allow me to write. 

"As to the ' speculations' at Columbia relative to ' the object 
of my visit to Charleston at this moment,' I can only say, that 
I am on that very tour, and about the very time, mentioned by 
me when I last had the pleasure of seeing you. On what evil 
days we have fallen, my good friend, when so common-place 
an event gives rise to conjecture or speculation ! I can truly 
assure you, that no one has felt more wretched than your hum- 
ble correspondent, since an unhappy controversy began to as- 
sume a serious aspect. I have always entertained a high ad- 
miration for the history and character of South Carolina, and 
accident or good fortune has thrown me into intimacy, and 
even friendship, with almost every leader of the two parties 
which now divide and agitate the state. Would to God they 
were again united, as during the late war, when her federalists 
vied with the republicans in the career of patriotism and glory, 
anc^when her legislature came powerfully to the aid of the 
Union. Well, the majority among you have taken a stand, 
and those days of general harmony may never return. What 
an awful position for South Carolina, as well as for the other 

"I cannot follow out the long, dark shades of the picture 
that presents itself to my fears. I will hope, nevertheless, for 
the best. But I turn my eyes back, and, good God ! what do 
I behold ? Impatient South Carolina could not wait — she has 
taken a leap, and is already a foreign nation ; and the great 



NULLIFICATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 93 

names of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Greene, no longer 
compatriot with yours, or those of Laurens, Moultrie, Pinck- 
ney, and Marion with mine ! 

" But the evil, supposing the separation to have been peace- 
able, would not stop there. When one member shall withdraw, 
the whole arch of the Union will tumble in. Out of the bro- 
ken fragments new combinations will arise. We should proba- 
bly have, instead of one, three confederacies — a northern, south- 
ern, and western reunion ; and transmontane Virginia, your 
native country, not belonging to the South, but torn off by the 
general West. I turn with horror from the picture I have only 
sketched. I have said it is dark ; let but one drop of blood be 
spilt upon the canvass, and it becomes ' one red.' 

" • Lands intersected by a narrow frith 

Abhor each other. Mountains interposed 
Make enemies of nations, which had else, 
Like kindred drops, been mingled into one.' 

" But you and my other South Carolina friends have taken 
your respective sides, and I must follow out mine. 

" You have probably heard of the arrival of two or three 
companies at Charleston in the last six weeks, and you may 
hear that as many more have followed. There is nothing in- 
consistent with the President's message in these movements. 
The intention simply is, that the forts in the harbor shall not 
be wrested from the United States. I believe it is not appre- 
hended that the state authorities contemplate any attack, at 
least in the present condition of things, on these posts ; but I 
know it has been feared that some unauthorized multitude, 
under sudden excitement, might attempt to seize them. The 
President, I presume, will stand on the defensive — thinking it 
better to discourage than to invite an attack — better to prevent 
than to repel one, in order to gain time for wisdom and modera- 
tion to exert themselves in the capitol at Washington, and in 
the state-house at Columbia. From humane considerations 
like these, the posts in question have been, and probably will 
be, slightly reinforced. I state what I partly know, and what 
I partly conjecture, in order that the case which I see is pro- 
vided for in one of your bills, may not be supposed to have 



94 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

actually occurred. If I were possessed of an important secret 
of the government, my honor certainly would not allow me to 
disclose it ; but there is in the foregoing neither secrecy nor 
deception. My ruling wish is, that neither party take a rash 
step, that might put all healing powers at defiance. It is, 
doubtless, merely intended to hold the posts for the present. A 
hw companies are incapable of effecting any further object. 
The engineer, also, is going on, steadily, but slowly, in erect- 
ing the new work on the site of Fort Johnson, (long since pro- 
jected for the defence of the harbor,) the foundation of which 
is but just laid. When finished, some years hence, I trust it 
may long be regarded, both by South Carolina and the other 
states, as one of the bulwarks of our common coast. 

There is nothing in this letter intended to be confidential, nor 
intended for the public press. When I commenced it I only 
designed giving utterance to private sentiments, unconnected 
with public events ; but my heart being filled with grief on 
account of the latter, my pen has run a little into that distress. 
Let us, however, hope for more cheering times. Yet, be this 
as it may, and whether our duties be several or common, I 
shall always have a place in my bosom for the private affec- 
tions, and that I may ever stand in the old relation to you, is 
the sincere wish of your friend, 

WiNFiELD Scott." 

With this letter we close the narrative of one of the most 
critical periods of American history. It has not been written 
to add to, or take from, the merit, the errors, or the part, of 
any one of the actors in those scenes. History is fable when 
it is not just. It may be a picture of fancy made beautiful by 
tlie pencil of flattery, or deformed by the pen of scandal, but it 
cannot be history, when truth is not the writer and justice the 
witness of its record. 

The veil of confidence yet rests upon many of Scott's acts 
and letters of this period. 



FLORIDA WAR 95 



FLORIDA WAR. 

On the 11th August, 1835, the United States mail carrier 
who letl Tampa, Florida, was murdered about six miles from 
that place. The mangled body of the carrier was thrown into 
a pond, and the mail carried off. The murderers, though not 
taken, were ascertained to be Indians. At first, this was sup- 
posed to be only an isolated outrage. But it was soon discov- 
ered that the Seminole tribe of Indians, then resident in Florida, 
united with a few individuals of the Creek tribe, had become 
discontented, and determined on opposition to the whites ; that 
able chiefs were exciting them, and that murmurs of injustice 
perpetrated by the people of the United States against them, 
and of an indignant resistance to it, were heard among the 
small but independent tribes of Florida. In about three months 
more, this resistance and muttered indignation burst forth, in 
depredations against property, in plantations ravaged, in dwell- 
ings burnt, and in murders committed ; in fine, with the deso- 
lations and horrors of an Indian war. In return, they were 
told that they should be swept from the earth ; but, if they had 
the courage to die with arms in their hands, " the white man 
would not deny them the privilege of sleeping out their death- 
sleep on the soil upon which he cannot endure their living 
presence." 

Osceola, or Powell, one of the head chiefs of the Seminoles, 
is represented as the principal instigator of the war, and one 
of the boldest warriors engaged in it. His father was a white 
man, and his mother a Creek Indian ; but, among the Indians, 
the men take rank generally from their mothers. Osceola 
was therefore known as a Creek. But, like Ke-o-kuck, he 
inherited no title or command. He was raised to distinction 
by superior talents, courage, and ambition. Before the war, 
he was proud, gloomy, and insolent ; but on one occasion, in a 
talk with the agent, (General Thompson,) he burst into a par- 
oxysm of passion, declared the country was theirs, that they 
wanted no agent, and that he (General Thompson) had better 
be off. For this he was arrested, and confined. Afterwards 



96 ^ LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

he assumed penitence, appeared cheerful, signed the treaty, 
and was released, with many fair promises. Subsequent 
events proved that this appearance was but the acting of a 
part. 

On the 20th of January, 1836, General Scott was ordered to 
the command of the army of Florida. He saw the Secretary 
at War at four o'clock on the afternoon of that day. Being 
asked when he could set out for Florida, he replied, " that 
night." His instructions, however, could not be drawn up till 
the following day. On the 21st, it appeared probable that 
many of the Creeks would join the Seminoles, and General 
Scott received orders to proceed immediately to the theatre of 
hostittties and assume the command. Having reached Picolata, 
on the St. John's River, Scott issued his general orders on the 
22d of February. He formed the army into three divisions. 
The troops on the west of the St. John's, under the gal- 
lant General Clinch, were to constitute the righ't wing of the 
army. Those on the east of that river, under Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Eustis, the left ; while those at Tampa Bay, under Colo- 
nel Lindsay, were to form the centre. These troops were to 
be reinforced by volunteers from the neighboring states. 

It was after the middle of March, when General Scott, 
having made all his arrangements for the three divisions of the 
army, and they having been joined by the volunteers, the col- 
umns of Clinch, Eustis, and Lindsay, respectively moved to- 
wards the Wythlacoochee, in order to meet in what was sup- 
posed to be the heart of the Indian country. It was then con- 
fidently believed that the great body of the Indians were in the 
swamp, about the junction of the Wythlacoochee. 

The troops, however, moved through the countiy, without 
finding any other enemy than separate parties of the Semi- 
noles, who from time to time were met, and who fought fiercely 
in their retreat. All the battles and the plans which had pre- 
ceded this expedition, had evidently failed of either breaking 
the spirit of the Indians, or even of tracing them to their coverts 
Tind towns. The columns of Scott moved through the country 
which had been the scene of Dade's massacre, and of the battles 
with Clinch and Gaines, without having discovered the retreats 



FLORIDA WAR. 97 

of the Indians, and, in fact, without having met any large body 
of them. 

On the 5th of April all the divisions of the army had arrived 
at Tampa Bay. Their arrival was hastened by both sickness 
and hunger. It had been found impossible to carry a large 
supply of provisions through a country where the men alone 
could scarcely advance, where horses were continually failing, 
and where climate rendered it dangerous to expose the men to 
unusual fatigue. Each had in turn hastened to Tampa. The 
expedition having failed in its main object — the discovery and 
breaking up of the enemy's main or central stronghold — Gen- 
eral Scott determined to scour the country with small detach- 
ments and corps, in order, if possible, to uncover the Indian 
retreats. Five different corps were employed in this way. 
One was led by Scott himself, which, passing the battle-ground 
of Dade, crossed the Ocklewaha, and finally ascended in a 
steamboat from Volusia up the St. John's River. Another 
corps moved under the command of Clinch ; another under 
Eustis ; another under Colonel Smith, up Peas Creek; a fifth 
moved under Major Reed, up the Wythlacoochee from its 
mouth ; and a sixth was commanded by Colonel Lindsay. 
None of these parties, however, met with any more important 
events than encountering small bodies of the enemy, and 
occasional skirmishes. 

When this campaign, whose entire period was scarcely one 
month, had terminated, the troops had already been attacked 
with severe sickness ; near four hundred were in the hospitals ; 
the provisions were totally inadequate to proceed farther, and 
for the first time it had been fully discovered, and proved, that 
the enemy to be pursued was lodged literally in wildernesses 
and swamps, to which the feet of civilized men had scarcely 
ever penetrated, and which were inaccessible to the common 
methods of approach by regular troops. Notwithstanding 
these facts, it is not very surprising, that many of the inhabit- 
ants of Florida on the exposed frontier were alarmed, and freely 
censured the general, who, however brave, zealous, or inde- 
fatigable, had nevertheless been unable to conquer the laws of 
nature, or resist the approaches of disease. 

5 



98 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

On the 9th of July, General Scott gave up the command of 
the army, having been ordered to Washington under extraordi- 
nary circumstances. 

He immediately obeyed the order, proceeded to Washington, 
and demanded a court of inquiry. On the 3d of October a 
court, composed of Major-General Macomb, and Brigadier- 
Generals Atkinson and Brady, was directed to assemble at 
Frederick, in Maryland, and to inquire into the conduct of 
General Scott, in the Florida and Creek campaigns. 

The decision of the court of inquiry was entirely in favor of 
General Scott. 

" The court, after a careful review of the great mass of tes- 
timony taken in the foregoing investigation, (the Florida cam- 
paign,) finds that Major-General Scott was amply clothed with 
authority to create the means of prosecuting the Seminole war 
to a successful issue ; but is of opinion that, at the time he was 
invested with the command, the season was too far advanced 
for him to collect, appoint, and put in motion his forces, until a 
day too late to accomplish the object. It appears that after 
using great diligence and energy, he was not in a condition to 
take the field and enter the enemy's strongholds before the 28th 
of March, and then without sufhcient means for transporting 
the necessary supplies to enable him to remain there long 
enough to seek out the scattered forces of the enemy. 

" The court, therefore, ascribe the failure of the campaign 
to the want of time to operate, the insalubrity of the climate 
after the middle of April, the impervious swamps and ham- 
mocks that abound in the country then occupied by the enemy, 
affording him cover and retreat at every step, and absence of 
all knowledge, by the general or any part of his forces, of the 
topography of the country, together with the difficulty of obtain- 
*ng, in time, the means of transporting supplies for the army. 

" The court is further of opinion, from the testimony of 
many officers of rank and intelligence who served in the cam- 
paign, that Major-General Scott was zealous and indefatigable 
in the discharge of his duties, and that his plan of campaign 
was well devised, and prosecuted with energy, steadiness, and 
ability." 



FLORIDA WAR.- 99 

On the other charge, which was tried at the same time, of 
delay in opening and prosecuting the Creek campaign in 1836, 
the opinion of the court was as follows, viz : — 

" Upon a careful examination of the abundant testimony- 
taken in the foregoing case, the court is of opinion that no de- 
lay, which it was practicable to have avoided, was made by 
Major-General Scott in opening the campaign against the Creek 
Indians. On the contrary, it appears that he took the earliest 
measures to provide arms, munitions, and provisions for his 
forces, who were found almost wholly destitute ; and as soon 
as arms could be put into the hands of the volunteers, they 
were, in succession, detached and placed in positions to prevent 
the enemy from retiring upon Florida, whence they could move 
against the main body of the enemy, as soon as equipped for 
offensive operations. 

" From the testimony of the Governor of Georgia, of Major- 
General Sanford, commander of the Georgia volunteers, and 
many other witnesses of high rank and standing who were 
acquainted with the topography of the country, and the position 
and strength of the enemy, the court is of opinion that the plan 
of campaign adopted by General Scott was well calculateki to 
lead to successful results, and that it was prosecuted by him, 
as far as practicable, with zeal and ability, until recalled from 
the command." 

Such was the strong testimony which the court and the wit- 
nesses bore to General Scott's zealous and judicious arrange- 
ments in the campaigns of the south. At this time, looking 
back upon the events of those campaigns, with a clearer vision 
than could then be fixed on a cotemporaneous field of action, 
the truth and the justice of this judicial opinion are both mani- 
fest and demonstrable. 

In the year 1837, when the House of Representatives was 
engaged in one of those debates on various and miscellaneous 
topics, which grow out of the management of public affairs, the 
Hon. Richard Biddle, of Pennsylvania, took occasion to speak 
of General Scott, in connection with the^Florida campaigns. 

Mr. Biddle said : — 

*' It would be recollected by all, that after fie war in Florida 



100 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

had assumed a formidable aspect, Major-General Scott was 
called to the command. An officer of his rank and standing 
was not likely to seek a service in which, amidst infinite toil 
and vexation, there would be no opportunity for the display of 
military talent on a scale at all commensurate with that in 
which his past fame had been acquired. Yet he entered on it 
with the alacrity, zeal, and devotion to duty by which he has 
ever been distinguished. 

" And here (Mr. B. said) he might be permitted to advert to 
the past history of this officer. 

" Sir, when the late General Brown, writing from the field 
of Chippewa, said that General Scott merited the highest praises 
which a grateful country could bestow, was there a single 
bosom throughout this wide republic that did not respond to the 
sentiment ? I for one, at least, can never forget the thrill of 
enthusiasm, boy as I then was, which mingled v/ith my own 
devout thankfulness to God, that the cloud which seemed to 
haye settled on our arms was at length dispelled. On that 
plain it was established that Americans could be trained to meet 
and to beat, in the open field, without breastworks, the regulars 
of Britain. 

" Sir, the result of that day was due not merely to the gal- 
lantry of General Scott upon the field. It must in part be 
ascribed to the patient, anxious, and indefatigable drudgery, the 
consummate skill as a tactician, with which he had labored, 
night and day, at the camp near Buffalo, to prepare his brigade 
for the career on which it was about to enter. 

" After a brief interval he again led that brigade to the glo- 
rious victory of Bridgewater. He bears now upon his body 
the wounds of that day. 

" It had ever been the characteristic of this officer to seek 
the post of danger, not to have it thrust upon him. In the 
years preceding that to which I have specially referred — in 
1812 and 1813 — the eminent services he rendered were in 
positions which properly belonged to others, but into which he 
was led by irrepressible ardor and jealousy of honor. 

" Since the peace with Great Britain, the talents of General 



FLORIDA WAR. • 101 

Scott have ever been at the command of his country. His pen 
and his sword have alike been put in requisition to meet the 
varied exigencies of the service. 

" When the difficulties with the western Indians swelled up 
mto importance, General Scott was dispatched to the scene of 
hostility. There rose up before him then, in the ravages of a 
frightful pestilence, a form of danger infinitely more appalling 
than the perils of the field. How he bore himself in this 
emergency — how faithfully he became the nurse and the phy- 
sician of those from whom terror and loathing had driven all 
other aid, cannot be forgotten by a just and grateful country." 

Mr. Biddle then continued in a defence of the conduct of 
General Scott in the Florida and Alabama campaigns, con- 
cluding with the following eloquent peroration : — 

" Mr. Chairman, I believe that a signal atonement to Gen- 
eral Scott will, one day, be extorted from the justice of this 
House. We owe it to him ; but we owe it still more to the 
country. What officer can feel secure in the face of that great 
example of triumphant injustice ? Who can place before him- 
self the anticipation of establishing higher claims upon the 
gratitude of the country than General Scott ? Yet he was sac- 
rificed. His past services went for nothing. Sir, you may 
raise new regiments, and issue new commissions, but you can- 
not, without such atonement, restore the high moral tone which 
befits the depositaries of the national honor. I fondly wish 
that the highest and the lowest in the country's service might 
be taught to regard this House as the jealous guardian of his 
rights, against caprice, or favoritism, or outrage, from whatever 
quarter. I would have him know that, in running up the 
national flag, at the very moment our daily labors commence, 
we do not go through an idle form. On whatever distant ser- 
vice he may be sent — whether urging his way amidst tumbling 
icebergs, towards the pole, or fainting in the unwholesome 
heats of Florida — I would enable him, as he looks up to that 
flag, to gather hope and strength. It should impart to him a 
proud feeling of confidence and security. He should know 
tha^ the same emblem of majesty and justice floats over the 
councils of the nation ; and that in its untarnished lustre we 



102" LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

have all a common interest and a common sympathy. Then, 
sir, and not before, will you have an army or a navy worthy 
to sustain and to perpetuate the glory of former days." 



SCOTt's agency in quelling the troubles on the NIAGARA 

FRONTIER. 

In the year 1837, Canada, which continues, in spite of the 
republican influences of the United States, under the govern- 
ment of Great Britain, became the scene of great political 
excitement, and of warm resistance to the measures of its 
administration. Towards the close of that year insurgent 
movements broke out among the French population of the 
lower province, and the spirit of revolt was spread among the 
disaffected of Upper Canada. The border population of all 
nations take great interest in what occurs beyond the boundary 
line, and are disposed either to invade or sympathize with their 
neighbors, according to the events by which they are excited. 
When, therefore, the flame of insurrection was kindled in 
Canada, it was not arrested by a mere line of jurisdiction. It 
reached and agitated the frontier inhabitants of the United 
States, along the entire border from the hills of Vermont to the 
Huron of the northwest. On this frontier, the citizens enrolled 
themselves as Canada patriots or sympathizers, until, perhaps, 
one fourth of all the inhabitants capable of bearing arms were 
professed friends and abettors of the Canada movement. Itiner- 
ant refugees were seen everywhere organizing their friends, 
with a view to descents upon the Canadas. Thousands and thou- 
sands met in lodges all along the border, oaths of secrecy were 
administered, principal leaders appointed, generals and staff- 
officers chosen, and, at least for Upper Canada, a provisional 
government formed. The President of the United States issued 
his proclamation enjoining all good citizens to observe the 
strictest neutrality towards the British provinces. It had but 
little effect. 

The arms in the hands of the citizens, and even those in the 



BURNING OF THE CAROLINE. 103 

state arsenals within reach of the borders, were soon seized or 
purloined, thus affording equipments to the American Canada 
patriots. At length, a Mr. Van Rensselaer, with some hun- 
dreds of followers, crossed from Schlosser, (a mile and a half 
above Niagara Falls,) and took possession of Navy Island, a 
small uninhabited spot within the British line, but near to 
our shore. At this time there could be little hope of going 
further, for the only outbreak in the opposite province had been 
crushed in a moment by the very people to whom it was pro- 
posed to give independence and freedom. At this time also, 
besides some regular troops, seventeen-twentieths of the pro- 
vincial militia were firm in their loyalty, well organized, well 
armed, and commanded by regular officers. 

This idle invasion, though unimportant to the Canadas, was 
not without consequences in history. It was followed by a 
very serious incident, which excited deep feeling in the United 
States, and was the subject of much diplomatic correspondence. 

Van Rensselaer, we have said, was stationed with a scanty 
and ill-provided band at Navy Island. Schlosser, as above 
stated, was a point on the American shore just opposite. A 
small steamer called the Caroline was engaged by Van Rens- 
selaer to act as a ferry-boat between these two points. The 
very first night the Caroline commenced her voyages, the 
British fitted out an expedition from the opposite point, Chip- 
pewa. Instead of directing their attack, as they might have 
done, against Navy Island, within their own territory, and 
which they would probably have captured, they chose to violate 
our territory, by boarding the unarmed steamer fastened to the 
wharf at Schlosser. She happened to be full of idle people, 
including boys unconnected with Van Rensselaer, who had 
been attracted to the frontier by the rum.or of war, and who had 
simply begged a night's lodgings. One citizen was killed, and 
several others wounded. The boat was cut loose, set on fire, 
and sent over the cataract, as was reported, and long believed 
by many, with several wounded Americans on board. When 
this occurred, a flame of excitement rose up throughout the 
interior of the United States. The sentiment of patriotism and 
the feeling of revenge were frequently mingled together. 



104 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Orderly citizens seized upon the arms nearest at hand, and 
flocked to the frontier. Their numbers increased, and the 
peace of this country, and perhaps of all other civilized nations, 
was threatened, by the act of outrage committed on the Caro- 
line. 

That vessel was destroyed December 29th, 1837. The 
news reached Washington January 4th. General Scott hap- 
pened to be there. A cabinet council was called, and Scott 
was told that blood had been shed, and he must hasten to the 
frontier. Full powers were given him to call for militia, to 
put himself in communication with the United States district 
attorneys, marshals, and collectors, in order through them to 
enforce the act of neutrality, the good faith pledged to Great 
Britain by treaty, and, in short, to defend our own territory, if 
necessary, against invasion, or to maintain peace throughout 
the borders. No regular troops were at hand. All had been 
withdrawn for the Florida war. He had ordered up, in passing 
New York, small parties of unattached army recruits, and at 
Albany invited the able and patriotic governor (Marcy) to 
accompany him to the Niagara. The presence of the governor 
was highly valuable during the few days that he could remain. 
Being on the spot, he was ready to supply any number of 
volunteers, on the requisition of Scott, as they might be needed ; 
for it was not known that the violation of our territory at 
Schlosser might not be followed up by other outrages of the 
same kind. 

During the winter of 1838 and that of 1838-9, he was busy 
in exercising his influence for peace, and in quieting our dis- 
turbed frontier. The troops, both regulars and volunteers, 
proved to be steady supporters of law and order, and were 
held everywhere ready, as posses, at the call of the United 
States marshals and collectors. 

Scott posted himself nowhere, but was by turns rapidlj 
everywhere, and always in the midst of the greater difliculties. 
In these winter campaigns against the trespassers of the bor- 
ders, he passed frequently along the frontier, sometimes on the 
Detroit and sometimes on the north line of Vermont. His 



TREATIES BINDING ON EACH CITIZEN. 105 

journeyings were made by land, and principally in the night ; 
oftentimes with the cold from ten to twenty degrees below the 
freezing point. Daylight he chiefly employed in organizing 
the means of counteraction ^y an extensive correspondence 
and the labors of direct pacification. He obtained, and pressed 
upon district attorneys, marshals, and collectors, information 
of the designs and movements of the patriots, and tendered to 
those civil functionaries the aid of the troops. In performance 
of his duty as a peacemaker, he addressed, on a line of eight 
hundred miles, immense gatherings of citizens, principally 
organized sympathizers, who had their arms at hand. 

In these addresses he declaimed with fervor, and they were 
often received with the loud applause of the audience. He 
handled every topic which could inspire shame in misdoers, or 
excite pride in the friends of the government and country. 
His speeches were made with popular illustrations and allusions, 
and addressed both to the knowledge and the sentiment of the 
people. He reminded them of the nature of a republic, which 
can have no foundation of permanency except in the general 
intelligence, virtue, respect, and obedience of its people ; that 
if, in the attempt to force on our unwilling neighbors inde- 
pendence and free institutions, we had first to spurn and trample 
under foot treaty stipulations and laws made by our own repre- 
sentatives, we should greatly hazard free institutions at home 
in the confidence and respect of our own people ; that no gov- 
ernment can or ousrht to exist for a moment after losing the 
power of executing its obligations to foreign countries, and of 
enforcing its own laws at home ; that that power depended in 
a republic chiefly on the people themselves ; that we had a 
treaty with England, binding us to the strictest observance of 
amity, or all the duties of good neighborhood with adjoining 
provinces, and also an act of Congress for enforcing those sol- 
emn obligations ; that the treaty and the laws were as binding 
on the honor and the conscience of every American freeman, 
as if he had specially voted for each ; that this doctrine was 
of the very essence of a civilized republic, as the neglect of it 
could not fail to sink us into anarchy, barbarism, and universal 
contempt ; that an aggressive war, waged by a part of the 

5* 



106 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

comn\unity, without just cause and without preparation, as is 
common among barbarian tribes, necessarily drags the non- 
consenting many along with the madness of the few, involvirxg 
all alike in crime, disaster, an^ disgrace ; that a war, to be 
successful, must be very differently commenced ; and in these 
addresses he would often conclude : — " Fellow-citizens, — and 
I thank God, we have a common government as well as a 
common origin, — I stand before you without troops and without 
arms, save the blade by my side. I am, therefore, within your 
power. Some of you have known me in other scenes, and all 
of you know that I am ready to do what my country and what 
duty demands. I tell you, then, except it be over my body, 
you shall not pass this line — you shall not embark." 

But the inquiry was everywhere heard, " What say you of 
the burning of the Caroline, and the murder of citizens at our 
own shore ?" 

In reply to these questions. General Scott always frankly 
admitted that these acts constituted a national outrage, and that 
they called for explanation and satisfaction ; but that this whole 
subject was in the hands of the President, the official organ of 
the country, specially chosen by the people for national pur- 
poses ; that there was no doubt the President would make the 
proper demand, and failing to obtain satisfaction, would lay the 
whole matter before Congress — the representative of the public 
will, and next to the people, the tribunal before which the 
ultimate appeal must be made. 

These harangues were applauded, and were generally very 
successful. Masses of patriots broke off and returned to their 
respective homes, declaring, that if Scott had been accompanied 
by an army they would not have listened, but persevered. 
The friends of order were also encouraged to come out in 
support of authority, and at length peace and quiet were 
restored. In the mean while, one of those incidents occurred 
which make history dramatic, and which illustrate how much 
depends on individual men and single events. Many days 
after the destruction of the " Caroline," another steamer, the 
*' Barcelona," was cut out of the ice in Buffalo harbor, (Janu- 
ary, 1838,) and taken down the Niagara river, to be offered, 



THE BARCELONA COMES UP THE RIVER. 107 

as was known, to the patriots, who were still on Navy Island. 
Scott wished to compel them to abandon their criminal enter- 
prise. He also desired to have them, on returning within our 
jurisdiction, arrested by the marshal, who was always with 
him. For this purpose, he sent an agent to hire the Barcelona 
for the service of the United States, before the patriots could 
get the means to pay for her, or find sureties to indemnify the 
owners in case of capture or destruction by the British. He 
succeeded in all these objects. The Barcelona proceeded back 
to Buffalo, where Scott had immediate use for her on Lake 
Erie, yet navigable in all its length. The authorities on the 
Canada side were on the alert to destroy her. 

As the Barcelona slowly ascended against the current on 
our side of Grand Island, (belonging to the United States,) three 
armed British schooners, besides batteries on the land, were 
in positions, as the day before, to sink her as she came out 
from behind that island. On the 16th of January, Scott and 
Governor Marcy stood on the American shore opposite that 
point, watching events. The smoke of the approaching boat 
could be seen in the distance, and the purpose of the British 
was perfectly evident in all their movements. The batteries 
on our side were promptly put in position. The matches were 
lighted. All was ready to return the British fire. There was 
a crisis ! 

The day before this, when it was supposed the Navy Island 
people were coming up the same channel in other craft, and 
before it was known that the Barcelona had accepted his offered 
engagement, Scott wrote on his knee, and dispatched by an 
aid-de-camp, the following note. 

" To the Commanding Officer of the Armed British Vessels in 

the Niagara. 

" Head-quarters, Eastern Division U. 1 
S. Army, two miles below Black > 
Rock, January 15th, 1838. ) 

« Sir— 

With his Excellency the Governor of New York, who 
has troops at hand, we are here to enforce the neutrality of the 



108 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

United States, and to protect oui own soil or waters from viola- 
tion. The proper civil officers are also present to arrest, if 
practicable, the leaders of the expedition on foot against Upper 
Canada. 

" Under these circumstances, it gives me pain to perceive 
the armed vessels, mentioned, anchored in our waters, with the 
probable intention to fire upon that expedition moving in the 
same waters. 

" Unless the expedition should first attack — in which case 
we shall interfere — we shall be obliged to consider a discharge 
"of shot or shell from or into our waters, from the armed schoon- 
ers of her Majesty, as an act seriously compromiting the neu- 
trality of the two nations. I hope, therefore, that no such 
unpleasant incident may occur. 

'' I have the honor to remain, &c., &;c. 

WiNFiELD Scott." 

The same intimation was repeated and explained the next 
morning, January 16th, to a captain of the British army, who 
had occasion to wait upon Scott on other business, and who 
immediately returned. It was just then that the Barcelona 
moved up the current of the Niagara. The cannon on either 
shore were pointed, the matches lighted, and thousands stood 
in suspense. On the jutting pier of Black Rock, in view of all, 
stood the tall form of Scott, in full uniform, watching the 
approaching boat. On Scott's note and his personal assurances, 
alone depended the question of peace or war. Happily, these 
assurances had their just effect. The Barcelona passed along. 
The British did not fire. The matches were extinguished ; 
the two nations, guided by wise counsels, resumed their usual 
way ; and war's wild alarms were hushed into the whispers 
of peace. 

Small a place as this incident may occupy in history, it was 
a critical moment in the affairs of nations. Had one British 
gun been fired, and much more, had the Barcelona been de- 
stroyed, no authority or influence would have restrained our 
excited population. We should probably have had an unpre- 
meditated war ; one of those calamities which nations have to 







Ml'' I 
: -if i 



mim\] 



^ 



110 LIFE OP GENERAL SCOTT. 

endure for their sins, and which is without the consoling and 
self-supporting consciousness of a great moral right. It would 
have been war from an incident, and not a national controversy. 

War may be justified on moral grounds, when the thing in 
dispute is of small physical magnitude, but there must be a 
question of right at the bottom. Such was the case when Scott, 
on this same Niagara frontier, had, by glorious achievement, 
mingled his fame with the eternal voices of its cataract. Then, 
he was contending for those rights of man and of citizenship 
without which a nation could neither be independent, nor 
respect itself, nor be respected by the nations of the earth. 
Now, the dictate of right was peace, a peace which should 
leave the people of Great Britain and its colonies to settle their 
own domestic government in their own way, while our citizens 
were left undisturbed in their rights, and our shores untouched 
by the hand of aggression. 

Soon after this time, General Scott passed through Albany, 
when the legislature was in session, and received the attentions 
of a large number of public men and other citizens, without 
distinction of party. A public supper was given him, princi- 
pally by members of the legislature, at which the lieutenant- 
governor presided, and Governor Marcy was a guest. All 
vied in expressions of respect for, and confidence in, the gallant 
officer whom they had assembled to welcome to the capital. 

Among the toasts given on this occasion, may be cited the 
following, as characteristic of the prevailing tone and spirit — 

" WiNFiELD Scott — not less the scholar than the soldier, 
whose pen and sword have been wielded with equal skill in the 
defence of his country." 

" The Soldier — who has ever made the law of the land his 
supreme rule of action, and who, while he has always fulfilled 
its utmost requirements, has never, in a single instance, tran- 
scended its limits." - "^ 

" Our Guest — the* invincible champion of our rights, the 
triumphant vindicator of our laws." 

A similar entertainment was given on the following evening 
at another hotel, the Honorable Gulian C. Verplanck presiding. 

The feelings and confidence of his fellow-citizens were thus 



SCOIT SENT TO THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY. 'Ill 

in various ways and in numerous quarters, manifested towards 
the man who was not merely a soldier, nor only a leader, but 
who was the servant of the laws, a faithful citizen, and the 
pacificator of troubled communities. 



SCOTT's labors in REMOVING THE CHEROKEES. 

For more than ten years, extending from 1828 to 1838, a 
controversy was maintained, in various forms, between the 
state of Georgia and the Cherokee tribe of Indians, most of 
whom were residents of Georgia, and between the United States 
and each of those parties. The subject of this controversy was 
the lands belonging to the Cherokees in the state of Georgia. 
As the white settlements advanced, the Indians were gradually 
enclosed. They had become cultivators of the soil. They 
held good farms. They had a yet greater attraction, in the 
discovery of gold within their territory — that shining object, 
which had added new energy to the enterprise of settling the 
Western World, when as yet the ocean was a trackless waste, 
and the land an unsubdued wild. It is not surprising that 
these attractions were enough to allure the desires of the 
whites, and occasion efforts to drive the Indians from their 
lands. The only question was the justice of the means used 
to attain the end. 

On the 10th of April, 1838, General Scott received orders to 
take the command of the troops dispatched to the Cherokee 
country, and to assume the general direction of affairs in that 
quarter. Having concerted measures with the war department 
for the removal of the Cherokees, and for the protection of the 
neighboring citizens, he entered upon his painful field of labor 
with that conscientiousness, and that high regard to duty, 
which forms a distinguished characteristic of his public as well 
as private acts. 

On the 10th of May he issued an address to the Cherokee 
nation, having, two days before, reached the Cherokee agency 
in Tennessee. 







-\y^ , 












ADDRESS TO THE CHEROKEES. 113 

Address. 

" Cherokees — The President of the United States has sent 
me, with a powerful army, to cause you, in obedience to the 
treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who are already 
established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. 
Unhappily, the two years which were allowed for the purpose, 
you have suffered to pass away without following, and without 
making any preparation to follow, and now, or by the time that 
this solemn address shall reach your distant settlements, the 
emigration must be commenced in haste, but, I hope, without 
disorder. I have no power, by granting a farther delay, to 
correct the error that you have committed. The full moon of 
May is already on the wane, and before another shall have 
passed away, every Cherokee nxan, woman, and child, in those 
states, must be in motion to join their brethren in the far West. 

" My friends — This is no sudden determination on the part 
of the President, whom you and I must now obey. By the 
treaty, the emigration was to have been completed on or before 
the 23d of this month, and the President has constantly kept 
you warned, during the two years allowed, through all his 
officers and agents in this country, that the treaty would be 
enforced. 

" I am come to carry out that determination. My troops 
already occupy many positions in the country that you are to 
abandon, and thousands and thousands are approaching from 
every quarter, to render resistance and escape alike hopeless. 
All those troops, regular and militia, are your friends. Re- 
ceive them and confide in them as such. Obey them when 
they tell you that you can remain no longer in this country. 
Soldiers are as kind-hearted as brave, and the desire of every 
one of us is to execute our painful duty in mercy. We are 
commanded by the President to act towards you in that spirit, 
and such is also the wish of the whole people of America. 

" Chiefs, head men, and warriors — Will you then, by re- 
sistance, compel us to resort to arms 1 God forbid ! Or will 
you, by flight, seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests, 
and thus oblige us to hunt you down ? Remember that, in 



114 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

pursuit, it may be impossible to avoid conflicts. The blood 
of the white man, or the blood of the red man, may be spilt, 
and if spilt, however accidentally, it may be impossible for the 
discreet and humane among you, or among us, to prevent a 
general war and carnage. Think of this, my Cherokee breth- 
ren ! I am an old warrior, and have been present at many a 
scene of slaughter; but spare me, I beseech you, the horror 
of witnessing the destruction of the Cherokees. 

" Do not, I invite you, even wait for the close approach of 
the troops ; but make such preparations for emigration as you 
can, and hasten to this place, to Ross's Landing, or to Gunter's 
Landing, where you will all be received in kindness by officei's 
selected for the purpose. You will find food for all, and clothing 
for the destitute, at either of those places, and thence at your 
ease, and in comfort, be transported to your new homes ac- 
cording to the terms of the treaty. 

" This is the address of a warrior to warriors. May his 
entreaties be kindly received, and may the God of both prosper 
the Americans and Cherokees, and preserve them long in peace 
and friendship with each other. 

" WiNFiELD Scott." 

- The Indians were soon brought into the military posts, where 
they were amply provided for. Thence they were escorted to 
emigrating depots as rapidly as was consistent with the collec- 
tion of their personal effects, their health, and comfort. By 
the middle of June the operations in Georgia had been so nearly 
completed, that orders were issued for the honorable discharge 
of the troops of that state. In Scott's order, high praise was 
bestowed on Brigadier- General Charles Floyd and the troops 
under his command, who were all of Georgia, for the hand- 
some and humane manner in which their duties were per- 
formed. 

Scott, hoping that the Cherokees in North Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, and Alabama, might be encouraged to enrol themselves 
voluntarily, by the kind treatment shown to their brethren in 
Georgia, now sent Indian runners, who tendered their services, 
to those distant settlements ; and in the mean time suspended 



A DROUGHT DRIES UP THE RIVERS. 115 

further collections to the 20th of June. On the morning of the 
13th, those Indians were found by the troops as entirely un- 
prepared as the Georgian Cherokees had been ; yet, at the end 
of ten days, all but a few stragglers in the mountains were 
brought in, with their personal property. The volunteers were 
discharged before the 15th of July, and as rapidly as arrange- 
ments could be made for their being mustered and paid, except 
a single company, retained a little longer for special service. 
More than a million of dollars was saved by the rapidity of 
these movements and discharges. With the exception of a few 
principal families, allowed to remain at their comfortable homes 
until called for, and some stragglers in the mountains, the whole 
body of the Cherokee nation had been collected for emigration 
before the middle of July, and without shedding one drop of 
blood. Thev were not without arms and fastnesses, nor with- 
out courage for the defence of their native homes. They were 
conquered by skilful movements, and yet more by generous 
kindness. All the volunteers, like the regulars, had caught 
the spirit of Scott's addresses and orders. It was a pleasant 
and edifying scene to see officers and men everywhere giving 
ready aid, in every difficulty and distress, to the helplessness 
of age and infancy. Tears were doubtless shed, and not alone 
by the Indian race. 

Scott's business up to this date had been simply military. 
To bring in the Indians, and to turn them over with guards, if 
needed, to the civil agent for Cherokee emigration, was the only 
duty assigned him by the government. That agent had already 
put in motion some three thousand for their Western destina- 
tion. But now, the Hiwassee, the Tennessee, and the Arkan- 
sas rivers had ceased to be navigable. A drought which had 
commenced in June, and which lasted to October, had already 
become distressing. In the next ten days, drinking-water for 
men and horses near the land route of emigration was not to 
be found, except at intervals of ten, or more frequently, of thirty 
miles. Scott, from humanity, and at the instance of the Chero- 
kees, took upon himself to stop the emigration until the return 
of the cool and healthy season. That determination was sub- 
sequently approved at Washington. 



116 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

All the principal Indians were first called to head-quarters. 
Scott spoke of the drought, stated his wish to suspend the 
mov.ement to the West, the expense of delay, the extreme 
inconvenience to himself of remaining with them till autumn, the 
want also of the regular troops elsewhere, and the fear that 
their people might break and disperse, if not kept within the 
chain of posts and sentinels. Every chief instantly agreed to 
sign a solemn pledge, not only for himself but for his family 
and friends ; not only to prevent dispersion, but to send runners 
of their own, to bring in the stragglers and those concealed, 
who still remained out. This written pledge was kept in good 
faith. 

Scott immediately sent off three regiments of regulars to the , 
Canada frontiers and Florida, where he knew they were much 
needed. The other two were retained more to aid and protect ' 
than to guard the Indians. 

The Cherokees were now distributed into three large camps ; 
the principal, twelve miles by four, on high and rolling ground, 
on the Hiwassee, well shaded and aboifnding in springs and 
flowing rivulets. All necessary supplies were abundant and 
good, including medicines ; vaccination was introduced by the 
personal influence of Scott against the general prejudice ; 
dram-shops were put under the guard of troops, to prevent the , 
sale of liquors ; and numerous Indian superiors were appointed 
to visit every family daily, and to report on their wants. All 
worked well. Scott established himself for long months at tliG 
agency, in the midst of the principal camp, charged with in- 
numerable labors and cares for the good of his pupils ; for such 
they were, both by the relation they sustained to the United 
States, and the watching and instruction he gave them. 

The delegation, with Ross the principal chief, returned from 
Washington in July, wh^n Scott received authority from the 
war department to transfer, by negotiation, the further emigra- 
tion from the civil agent to the Cherokees themselves. The 
proposition was submitted to the nation, and adopted with joy. 
The same delegates were appointed to arrange the general terms 
with Scott. The cost of the movement, as in the previous 
arrangement, was to be paid cut of the five millions of dollars 



118 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Stipulated by the United States to be given in exchange with 
the new country West, for the one inhabited by the Cherokees 
in the East. 

To Scott, the sum to be paid per capita, for the removal, as 
proposed by the delegates, appeared much too high. The 
subject was referred back to the general council of the Chero- 
kees, the largest they had ever held, who approved the new 
terms proposed by Scott. The same authority appointed a 
purveyor of supplies on the route, and the delegates specially 
charged with that duty proceeded to enroll their people into 
convenient parties for the road, with a conductor, sub-conductor, 
and physician, for each, to collect wagons, horses, and every 
thing necessary for the movement, as soon as the season and 
rain might permit. 

Here was a wonderful change. A few months before, 
seven-tenths of the Cherokees threatened to die in defence of 
their ancient homes. Now the only contest among the chiefs 
and parties was — who shall first take the road to the far West. 
All were eager to lead or to follow. 

At length October came, with some slight shoM'-ers of rain, 
and by the 16th of November the last detachment was in 
motion. The sick and helpless only were left to proceed by 
steam on the rise of the rivers. 

Scott followed the line of emigration to Nashville, in order 
to help and cheer on the movement. He had intended to 
proceed farther ; but an express overtook him from Washing- 
ton, with dispatches, sq^ing that the Patriots were reorganized 
to the number of eighty thousand, and were getting ready to 
break into the Canadas at many points. He instantly departed 
in that direction. Stopping nowhere to accept the public hon- 
ors tendered him, he arrived at Cleveland and Detroit at critical 
moments. Thence he passed down the frontier into Vermont, 
and completed the work we have described in the preceding 
chapter. He re-established peace, law, and order all along 
the disturbed frontier of Canada. 

In all this he had moved with almost the swift flight of the 
birds, and his work was completed in the brief space of their 
summer excursions. In this short season had Scott performed 



PARTING FROM THE HOME OF CHILDHOOD. 119 

the work of Cherokee emigration, and returned to new and ar- 
duous labors in an opposite region and a very different climate. 
Such sudden changes, and such rude exposures, are the sol- 
dier's lot in pursuit of duty and in obedience to his country. 

In this brief story we have narrated the manner in which the 
Cherokees — fifteen thousand in number — were carried from 
the homes of their fathers and the graves of their dead. That 
they left them in sadness, and looked to the uncertain future 
with dread and dark foreboding, none can doubt. However 
adventurous, far-searching, or curious may be the human mind 
when voluntarily pursuing its own objects, it cannot be forced 
from its ancient associations, without experiencing a shock 
similar to that which uproots the aged tree, breaking its 
deepest roots, snapping its tendrils, and blighting its softest 
verdure. This is a shock, too, which is felt the most in 
the most secluded retreats of the family. It touches the 
hearts which have grown in the shade, where few rays from 
the glaring light of the world have ever fallen. It would not 
be difficult to imagine some Indian woman, and perhaps an 
aged one, stopping alone by the rippling stream to hear the 
murmur of waters she should hear no more — to break a twisr 
from trees whose shade she should enjoy no longer — to linger 
round the lonely mound, which was henceforth to be the only 
memorial of her race — to cast one last look on the summits of 
hills, to which, with the friends of her youth, she had often 
gazed in the glowing sunsets of summer. They fade now in 
the shades of evening, and she heaves the last sigh, drops hei 
last tear, and hills, and woods, and murmuring streams, live 
for her only in the memory of the exile ! 

The remaining years of her life she spends in strange scenes, 
and looking intensely into the future, hopes, perhaps, for 

" Some safer world in depths of woods embraced, 
Some happier island in the watery wdste, 
Where slaves once more their native land behold, 
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold." 

Such scenes as these may be easily imagined, and it 13 
scarcely possible they should not have occurred in any nation, 
savage or civilized, on leaving their native land. The ques* 



120 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

tion, however, remains, whether, in the plans of Providence, 
and their merciful development, the policy of the United States 
towards tne Cherokees has not really been the true policy, 
and its effect for their ultimate good ? It is certain that they 
have received a rich and valuable territory, where, on the 
waters of the Arkansas, they yet cultivate lands — where they 
have organized a civil government, and where they appear still 
to advance in numbers and prosperity. Should this continue 
to be their history, may they not hereafter become a State of 
aboriginal inhabitants, in a condition of civilization and Chris- 
tianity ? If this should happily be the case, the Cherokee State 
will be a monument enduring through after ages of that wild 
and singular race, who seemed the children of the forest, defy- 
ing the scrutiny of philosophy, and shunning the gaze of civil- 
ized man. The lone mound will not be their only memorial, 
nor tradition their only story. They will live to enjoy the 
fruits of legal liberty, to extend the dominion of the arts, to 
rest in the shade of peace ; and, no longer hunters and war- 
riors, adorn the realms of science, religion, and philosophy. 

But whatever may be thought of the act or the result of 
removing the Indians, no one can doubt that the part Scott had 
in that business was performed with a skill, a humanity, and a 
forbearance worthy of much admiration. 

In the National Intelligencer of that time there appeared an ar- 
ticle from a responsible writer, describing the character of Scott's 
acts, narrated in this and the previous chapter. From that we 
take the following extract, as just as it is historically true : 

" The manner in which this gallant officer has acquitted 
himself within the last year upon our Canada frontier, and 
lately among the Cherokees, has excited the universal admira- 
tion and gratitude of the whole nation. Owing to his great 
popularity in the North, his thorough knowledge of the laws 
of his own country, as well as those which govern nations, 
united to his discretion, his great tact and experience, he has 
saved the country from a ruinous war with Great Britain. 
And by his masterly skill and energy among the Cherokees, 
united to his noble generosity and humanity, he has not only 
effected what everybody supposed could not be done without 



AN ACCOUNT OP RECENT EVENTS. 121 

the most heart-rending scenes of butchery and bloodshed, but 
he has effected it by obtaining the esteem and confidence of 
the poor Cherokees themselves. They look upon him as a 
benefactor and friend, and one who has saved them from entire 
destruction. 

" All the Cherokees were collected for emigration without 
bloodshed or violence, and all would have been on their way 
to the West before the middle of July, had not humanity in- 
duced General Scott to stop the movement until the 1st of 
September. Three thousand had been sent off in the first half 
of .Tune by the superintendent, before the general took upon 
himself the responsibility of stopping the emigration, from feel- 
ings which must do everlasting honor to his heart. 

" An approval of his course had been sent on by the War 
Department before his report, giving information that he had 
stopped the emigration, had readied the seat of government. 

*' In the early part of .January last, the President asked Con- 
grcss for enlarged powers, to enable him to maintain our neu- 
tral obligations to England ; that is, to tranquillize the Canadian 
frontiers. 

" Before the bill passed Congress, General Scott had finished 
the work, and effected all its objects. These, too, he effected 
by flying from one end of the frontier to the other in the dead 
of winter, and during the severest and coldest period of it. 

" He returns to Washington, and is immediate) v ordered to 
the Cherokee nation, to take charge of the very difficult and 
hazardous task to his own fame of removing those savages 
from their native land. Some of his best friends regretted, 
most sincerely, that he had been ordered on this service ; and, 
knowing the disposition of the world to cavil and complain 
without cause, had great apprehensions that he would lose a 
portion of the popularity he had acquired by his distinguished 
success on the Canadian frontier. But, behold the manner in 
which this last work has been performed ! There is so much 
of noble generosity of character about Scott, independent of his 
skill and bravery as a soldier, that his life has really been one 
of romantic beauty and interest.'' 

The truth of this picture may be judged by the facts of this 

6 



122 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

history. But whatever opinion may be formed on that point, 
tliere have been men of the most eminent intelligence, them- 
selves disinterested and capable of judging, who have formed 
the same estimate of the character and acts of Scott. We 
subjoin the following testimony of the Rev. Doctor Channing, 
in a work published in Boston : 

" To this distinguished man belongs the rare honor of uniting 
with military energy and daring, the spirit of a philanthropist. 
His exploits in the field, which placed him in the first rank of 
our soldiers, have been obscured by the purer and more lasting 
glory of a pacificator, and of a friend of mankind. In tiie 
whole history of the intercourse of civilized with barbarous or 
half-civilized communities, we doubt whether a brighter page 
can be found than that which records his agency in tlie removal 
of the Cherokees. As far as the wrongs done to this race can 
be atoned for. General Scott has made the expiation. 

" In his recent mission to the disturbed borders of our coun- 
try, he has succeeded, not so much by policy as by the noble- 
ness and generosity of his character, by moral influences, by 
the earnest conviction with which he has enforced on all with 
whom he has had to do, the obligations of patriotism, justice, 
humanity, and religion. It would not be easy to find among 
us a man who has won a purer fame ; and I am happy to offer 
this tribute, because I would do something, no matter how 
little, to hasten the time, when the spirit of Christian humanity 
shall be accounted an essential attribute and the brightest 
ornament of a public man." 



GENERAL SCOTT's AGENCY IN SETTLING THE MAINE BOUNDARY. 

From the land of the Cherokees and the scene of their exile, 
General Scott hastened back to that northern frontier, which 
had so nearly become the theatre of war. He again visited 
and tranquillized the Canadian borders, from Detroit along 
almost the whole line to Northern Vermont. Here he learned 



SETTLEMENT OF THE MAINE BOUNDARY. 123 

that hostile movements were on foot on both sides of what was 
then known as the Disputed Territory. This was a territory 
on the borders of the state of Maine, the boundaries of which the 
United States and Great Britain had not been able exactly to 
ascertain, so as to determine satisfactorily the line between the 
two nations. 

Hearhig of these difficulties and of this danger, and fearing 
that letters to him might be misdirected in consequence of the 
rapidity of his movements, Scott hastened immediately to 
Washington. He presented himself at the War Department a 
day and a half in advance of the mail from the Canada line. 

The condition of affairs on his arrival, was perilous to the 
peace, not merely of this country or of Great Britain, but of 
the civilized world ; for it can hardly be supposed that the two 
greatest commercial nations could come in conflict on every 
sea, and in almost every port of the globe, and yet not involve 
other nations, or that war would cease with the cessation of the 
immediate cause. The passion for war is contagious. The 
bystanders in the play of battles feel an instinctive impulse to 
share in the action. Their reason and their conscience can 
hardly restrain them from feeling, and even believing, that 
their interest, their honor, or their fame requires that they also 
should enter the arena of a bloody ambition, pursuing the re* 
wards of conquest or the glory of victories. Hence it is that 
a war between leading nations, especially between the new and 
old systems of government, would, reasoning from experience 
and probabilities, result in one of those general and long- 
continued seasons of bloodshed, revolutions, and conquests, 
which have so often impoverished the substance, and corrupted 
the morals of nations. 

When Scott arrived at Washington, such a crisis seemed to 
be tangibly and visibly present. The President of the United 
States, Mr. Van Buren, just then announced to Congress, by 
special message, that " the peace of the two nations is daily 
and imminently endangered." The President also said, that in 
a certain event, he should feel himself bound to call out the 
militia to repel invasion, and he invited from Congress such 
action as it deemed expedient. So extraordinary was the dan- 



124 LIF17 OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

ger, that Congress adopted extraordinary measures. In five 
days, an act was passed authorizing ihe President, if he deemed 
best, to call out the militia for six months, to accept, if neces- 
sary, the services of fifty thousand volunteers ; and appropria- 
ting ten millions of dollars for these objects. 

Scott having arrived at Washington, had interviews with the 
President, with the Secretaries of State and War, and with the 
committees in Congress on foreign and military affairs. He 
assisted in drawing and urging the bills to put at the disposition 
of the Executive fifty thousand volunteers, and ten millions 
of dollars to meet exigencies. This being done, he immedi- 
ately departed, and reached Augusta, the seat of government 
in Maine, in about eight days after his arrival at Washington. 
It turned out that had he been three days later, he would have 
found a war made to his hands. 

Passing through Boston, and having official business whh 
Governor Everett, of Massachusetts, he repaired to the state- 
house, where that accomplished officer and scholar addressed 
him in substance as follows : — 

" General : — 

" I take great pleasure in introducing you to the members 
of the Executive Council of Massachusetts ; I need not say that 
you are already known to them by reputation. They are 
familiar with your fame as it is recorded in some of the arduous 
and honorable fields of the country's struggles. We rejoice 
in meetinij vou on this occasion, charwd as vou are with a 
most momentous mission by the President of the United States. 
We are sure you are intrusted with a duty most grateful to 
your feelings — that of averting an appeal to arms. We place 
unlimited reliance on your spirit, energy, and discretion. 
Should you unhappily fail in your efTorts, under the instructions 
of the President, to restore harmony, we know that you are 
equally prepared for a still more responsible duty. Should 
that event unhappily occur, I beg you to depend on the firm 
support of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." 

His reception by the people and authorities of Maine at 
Augusta, the seat of government^ was such as to increase hij 



SETTLEMENT OF THE MAINE BOUNDARY. 125 

power of harmonizing opposite feelings, by showing the strong 
sympathy between himself and the body of the people. On 
Thursday, March 7th 1839, General Scott met the citizens 
of Augusta, representatives and soldiers, in the Legislative 
Hall. A correspondent of the Portland Argus says : — 

" The hall was full and the galleries were crowded. Many 
could not get places. The greeting of the general to the 
officers and soldiers introduced to him was peculiarly happy. 
In one of the representatives, Mr. Frost of Bethel, he recognised 
a fellow-soldier of the last war. They were both wounded in 
the same battle. The interview was enthusiastic. The gen- 
eral seemed hardly willing to part with his hand. 

"After a half hour spent in these mutual interchanges of 
friendship, Mr. Allen of Bangor, in a few remarks, welcomed , 
General Scott among us, to which welcoming he replied by 
thanking the audience for the hearty reception they had given 
him in the capitol of Maine, and by expressing his happiness at 
being enabled, face to face, to see so many of her sons — and, 
should war come, he should be glad to be found shoulder to 
shoulder, breast to breast with such soldiers." 

When Major-General Scott arrived in Maine, it so happened, 
that he had with him an unanswered private letter from Sir 
John Harvey, *the governor of New Brunswick, written before 
the troubles on the borders of that province, and received at 
the far South. A reply to that friendly letter brought on at 
once a semi-official correspondence between the parties, which 
soon became brisk and public. 

Standing high in the confidence of his own government, and 
being above pique and petty advantages, all repugnance to- 
wards the first step, which was required by the resolution that 
passed the Maine Legislature, towards preserving the peace 
of the borders, and the consequent peace of two great nations^ 
on honorable terms, was soon conquered by the governor of 
New Brunswick. When this was done, Scott felt himself at 
liberty to appeal to the same generous sentiments on the pan of 
the Maine authorities. 

The governor of Maine became satisfied that he might take 
the second step, but t.hou(;ht he could not withdraw the troops 

* The satae Harvey mentioned on p. 30 of this work. 



126 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

from the disputed territory without the concurrence of the 
Legislature. With his approbation, Scott had now to urge his 
suit for peace and compromise with the members of the Legis- 
lature. Both political parties had been equally excited against 
New Brunswick and Great Britain about the boundary ; but 
both were jealous and watchful of each other. Each had, 
within a few years, gained predominance, by the use of this 
foreign question. It was natural they should think, that a too 
ready yielding might be unpopular at home. It was therefore 
necessary that the members of these political parties in the 
Legislature should make a simultaneous movement. Scott 
had succeeded in reconciling the leading members of the domi- 
nant party in Maine to the measures of their political friends 
at Washington ; he had succeeded in obtaining a friendly con- 
cession from the Governor of New Brunswick ; and now he 
had the address to reconcile opposing parties in the Legislature. 
We have been told, and indeed the ne-wspapers of the day 
show something of it, that this was a remarkably interesting 
scene. The details belong chiefly to that private history which 
public reports do not reach, and which rarely or never are 
developed till another generation. 

The resolutions of Maine were passed on the 20th instant. 
By that time Scott was prepared with his memorandum, signed 
by Sir John Harvey, and containing all that was necessary to 
establish peace. Governor Fairfield immediately added his 
signature. Copies were duly interchanged by General Scott. 
Tranquillity was restored on the borders, and the subject of 
peace and war transferred to the national authorities. 

The resolutions of the Maine Legislature were passed on the 
20th of March, and on the 21st instant. General Scott sent his 
official communication to Sir John Harvey, which was the 
memorandum of what was assented to by the Governors of 
Maine and New Brunswick. 

To show the estimate which Sir John Havvey placed in the 
ability, integrity, and honest purposes of General Scott, we 
subjoin the following letter. 



SETTLEMENT OF THE MAINE BOUNDARY. 127 

" My dear General Scott — 
^ " Upon my return from closing the ses- 

iion of the Provincial Legislature, I was gratified by the 
receipt of your very satisfactory communication of the 21st 
instant. My reliance upon you, my dear general, has led me 
to give my willing assent to the proposition which you have 
made yourself the very acceptable means of conveying to me ; 
and I trust that as far as the province and the state respectively 
are concerned, an end will be put by it to all border disputes, 
and a way opened to an amicable adjustment of the national 
question involved. I shall hope to receive the confirmation of 
this arrangement on the part of the State of Maine at as early 
a period as may be practicable." 

The people of the United States, like Sir John Harvey, looked 
upon Scott as the Pacificator, who had now made himself as 
much the friend of peace, as he once had been distinguished as 
the waixior of battles. 

It was but a short time after this transaction, that another 
distinguished man, of singular ability and great influence, had 
the honor of terminating this vexed question, of fixing, so that 
it could no longer be mistaken, our northern boundary, from the 
foot of the Rocky Mountains, by the Lake of the Woods, and 
down the St. Lawrence, and through this disputed territory to 
the Atlantic. Met in the same peaceful spirit by the British 
minister, he was able to close these harassing difficulties, to 
quiet the disturbed minds of the people, and in this olive-branch, 
plucked from the midst of agitated waters, offer to the nations 
anotiier evidence that a kindlier and better spirit had begun to 
govern human affairs. He had already been the strongest 
actor in forensic combats, the noblest orator of senate halls ; 
and the Washington Tkeaty, negotiated on the part of the 
United States by Daniel Webster, received the speedy confir- 
mation of the Senate. 



128 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



GENERAL SCOTT ORDERED TO MEXICO. 

" When the information reached Washington, in May, 1846, 
that the Mexican forces had crossed the Rio Grande, the 
President of the United States immediately communicated to 
General Scott his intention of sending him to the army to as- 
sume the chief command. General Taylor had been placed 
in command of the troops, then in the presence of the enemy, 
on the recommendation of 'General Scott, wlio well knew t^at 
a proper occasion only was necessary for a development of 
those brilliant qualities of soldiership which have since render- 
ed the name of Taylor so illustrious. 

Not wishintr to assume the immediate command of thn 
army, and thus snatch from his old companion in arms the 
glory he was about to acquire ; nor willing, at the same time, 
to decline a service corresponding to his rank, he suggested 
to the President, through the Secretary of War, that he be 
permitted during the summer months to collect and drill the 
troops destined for service in Mexico — to collect the materiel 
of the army, and, after the wet season on the Rio Grande had 
passed, to join General Taylor with such additional forces as 
would secure with certainty the objects of the campaign, and 
at the same time respect the well-establisiicd military usage, , 
"that a junior of distinguished merit ought to be superse- 
ded by a senior in rank, only by the addition of large rein- 
forcements." The spirit in which these suggestions were re- 
ceived by the President and Secretary of War, evinced a want 
of confidence in the plans proposed by General Scott ; and a 
fear lest the political effect of the measure might prove inju- 
rious to the administration, was doubtless the main reason 
which caused the order to be countermanded. 

Smarting under a rebuke so little deserved. General Scott 
addressed a letter to the President, recapitulating the difficul- 
ties that lay in the way of immediate action on the Rio Grande 
— stated anew his plans for prosecuting the war — and concluded 
by reminding the President, that no general, exercising the 



ORDERED TO MEXICO. \2ff 

difficult function of a distant command, could feel secure with- 
out the support and confidence of his government at home. 
He said, in terms, what General Taylor has so painfully real- 
ized, " that the enemy in front is not half so much to be feared 
as an attack from the rear.'' 

The.views of General Scott, set forth in this correspondence, 
have been realized by the events that have since transpired 
and what seemed at the time to be but vague opinion has now 
become a matter of history. After the correspondence with 
the War Department reached the banks of the Rio Grande, 
officers near General Taylor, and known to be his personal 
friends, addressed letters to the friends of General Scott, ex- 
pressing the kindest feelings on the part of General Taylor, 
and the hope that the General might yet assume the command 
of the army. Being satisfied that his presence on the Rio 
Grande would not be unacceptable to General Taylor, he ad- 
dressed a letter to the Secretary of War, early in September, 
requesting to be assigned to that command, to which request 
he received a rude and flat denial. 

About this time, as subsequently appeared by the statements 
of Senator Benton, the President decided to create the office of 
lieutenant-general, and thus supersede, not only the scar- 
marked hero of Chippewa and Niagara, but also to tear the 
fresh laurels of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma from the 
brow of the gallant Taylor. After this plan had been finally 
arranged, the President sent for General Scott, and confided to 
him the command of the army in Mexico, and gave to him the 
most solemn assurance of his confidence and support. The 
following order was from the Secretary of War : — 



War Department, Washington 
November 23d, 1846. 



■\ 



Sir — The President, several days since, communicated in person to you 
his orders to repair to Mexico, to take the command of the forces tliere 
assembled, and particularly to organize and set on foot an expedition to 
operate on the Gulf coast, if, on arriving at the theatre of action, you shall 
deem it to be practicable. It is not proposed to control your operations by 
definite and positive instructions, but you are left to prosecute them as your 
judgment, under a full view of all the circumstances, shall dictate. The 
work is before you, and the means provided, or to be provided, for accom- 

6* 



130 L1F£. OP GENERAL SCOTT. 

plishing it, are committed to you, in the full confidence that you will use 
them to the best advantage , 

The objects which it is desirable to obtain have been indicated, and it is 
hoped that you will have the requisite force to accomplish them. 

Of this you must be the judge, when preparations are made, and the time 
for action arrived. Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
W. L. Marcy, 
General Winfield Scott. Secretary of War. 

General Scott immediately made all the arrangements to 
carry the plan into full effect. The requisite number of trans- 
ports were to be provided, surf-boats for the landing of the 
iroops constructed, a train of siege ordnance was to be collected 
and sent forward, and ten new regiments were to be added to 
the line of the army, at the earliest possible moment after the 
meeting of Congress. In a very few days all the preliminary 
arrangements were completed, and General Scott left Wash- 
ington on the 24th November, in the full belief that he enjoyed 
the confidence of the government, and that the conduct of the 
war, under general instructions, had been entirely confided to 
his discretion and judgment. 

Immediately on the opening of Congress the project of cre- 
ating a higher military grade was brought forward, and the 
friends of generals Scott and Taylor saw with alarm that a 
plan was maturing by which they were both to be degraded to 
subordinate stations, and the entire direction of affairs in Mexico 
confided to other and untried hands. The friends of General 
Scott now saw that his apprehensions of an attack " from the 
rear," and which had been frankly expressed in his former 
letters, were indeed but too well founded ; and that notwith- 
standing the assurance given on his departure from Washing- 
ton for the army, of the full and cordial support of the govern- 
ment, the plan of wresting from him the command, at the 
earliest possible day, was then matured, and ready for speedy 
execution. In view of all the circumstances, it is, perhaps, 
not uncharitable to suppose that he was selected for that com- 
mand, for the purpose of stirring up a spirit of rivalry between 
his friends and those of General Taylor, and thus affording a 
plausible pretext for superseding them both. 



SCOTT REACHES THE ARMY. 131 

On the 30th of November General Scott sailed from New 
York, in the fullest confidence that the government was act- 
ing in good faith, and that every means would be furnished 
him for the prosecution of the war. Little did he then sup- 
pose, that before he could reach the theatre of active opera- 
tions the government which had selected and sent him, would 
attempt to degrade him in the eyes of the world, by declaring, 
in effect, that he was unfit for the very place to which he had 
been so recently appointed. 

With the generous confidence of a brave soldier, who had 
often met the enemy in deadly conflict, he received through 
the President the plighted faith of the nation that all was 
right. The President saw him depart in the fulness of this 
confidence, and yet before he reached the army, the proposi- 
tion to supersede him was already there. Yes, the very 
army into which he was to breathe the inspiration of hope — 
which he was to train and prepare for the deadly conflicts 
that awaited them — was informed, in advance, that the presi- 
dent had no confidence in their commander-in-chief. 

General Scott reached the Rio Grande about the first of 
January. Early in the month it became evident that some 
of the principal arrangements for the attack on Vera Cruz 
were not likely to be carried out by the government. The 
bill for raising the ten additional regiments was lost sight of 
by the administration, in the desire to carry their favorite 
project of placing a political partisan at the head of the army; 
and this bill, which ought to have been passed in the first week 
of the session, was not finally disposed of till a day or two 
before the adjournment. 

What was the condition of things in Mexico at this critical 
period ? 

Santa Anna, with a force of twenty-two thousand men, was 
at San Louis Potosi, a fortified city containing sixty thousand 
inhabitants, and about equally distant from Monterey, Vera 
Cruz, and Mexico. 

General Taylor was in the vicinity of Monterey, in the 
command of a force of about eighteen thousand men, occupy- 
ing the long line from Saltillo to Camargo, and thence to the 



132 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

mouth of the Rio Grande, where General Scott had just ar- 
rived with a small force, for the purpose of attacking Vera 
Cruz as soon as possible. He well knew that the votnifo makes 
its appearance there in the early spring, and that delay would 
be fatal. The transports, stores, and munitions, were begin- 
ning to arrive. What was to be done ? Was the expedition 
against Vera Cruz to be abandoned, or was General Scott to 
go forward and do the best he could under circumstances so 
discouraging ? He adopted the latter alternative. He reviewed 
all the disposable forces within his command, and carefully 
weighed chances and probabilities. He forwarded to General 
Taylor a full plan of his proposed operations. By the capture 
and assassination of Lieutenant Ritchie, the bearer of these 
dispatches, the plans were fully disclosed to Santa Anna, and 
he became apprized that Vera Cruz was to be the main point 
of attack. At Vera Cruz, and its immediate vicinity, there 
were six or seven thousand men, and a much larger number 
could be collected from the adjoining country on a short no- 
tice. Would Santa Anna break up his camp at San Louis 
Potosi, and march on Vera Cruz — fill the city and castle with 
his best troops, and oppose the landing of General Scott with 
a selected army of forty thousand men ? Or, was he likely 
to abandon the town and castle to their fate, thus leaving open 
the road to Mexico, and march with his whole force against 
General Taylor, over a desert of 150 miles, with a certainty 
of having to encounter his enemy either in the defiles of the 
mountains or from behind the impregnable battlements of 
Monterey ? 

Under such circumstances it became the duty of General 
Scott so to divide the forces of the Rio Grande as would be 
most likely fo meet any contingency that might arise. He 
collected the regular infantry — for these might be necessary to 
carry with the bayonet the fortified city and castle of Vera 
Cruz. He left within the limits of General Taylor's com- 
mand, about ten thousand volunteers and several companies of 
the best artillery of the regular army. These General Tay- 
lor might have concentrated at Monterey, and General Scott 
suggested to him, in his instructions, to do so, if it became ne- 



SIEGE OF VERA CRUZ. 133 

cessarv. With this comparatively small force, General Tay- 
lor not only iTiaintained all the posts v/ithm his command, but 
with tne one half of it achieved the memorable victory of 
Buena Vista. 

General Scott assigned twelve thousand men to the expedi- 
tion against Vera Cruz, and had Santa Anna concentrated his 
forces at that point, the disparity of numbers would have been 
much greater than at Buena Vista. These remarks are not 
made for the purpose of comparing the skill, or the conduct, or 
the claims to public gratitude of the two distinguished generals 
who have so well fulfilled every trust reposed in them by their 
country ; but simply to show that in the disposition of the 
forces made by General Scott, he did not take a larger portion 
for his own command than the interests of the service impera- 
tively demanded. 

The troops which were recalled from the upper Rio Grande 
halted for a few days at the mouth of the river, and were then 
taken on board transports, and joined others who had made 
their rendezvous at the island of Lobos, about 125 miles west 
and north of the city of Vera Cruz. The troops being thus 
collected, the whole armament proceeded to Antonia Lizardo. 



SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VERA CRUZ. 

On the morning of the 7th of March, General Scott, in a 
steamer, with Commodore Connor reconnoitred the city, for 
the purpose of selecting, the best landing-place for the army. 
The spot selected was the shore west of the island of Sacri- 
ficios. The anchorage was too narrow for a large number of 
vessels, and on the morning of the 9th of March the troops 
were removed from the transports to the ships of war. Tiie 
fleet then set sail — General Scott in the steamship Massachu- 
setts, leading the van. As he passed through the squadron, 
his tall form, conspicuous on the deck, attracted the eyes of 
soldier and of sailor ; a cheer burst spontaneously forth, and 
from vessel to vessel was echoed, and answered through the 

12 



134 LIFE OP GENERAL SCOTT. 

line. The voices of veterans, and of new recruits — of those 
who had been victorious at Monterey, and of those who hoped 
for victories in the future — were mingled in loud acclamation 
for him, whose character inspired confidence, and whose ac- 
tions were already embodied in the glorious history of their 
country ! 

Near Sacrificios the landing commenced . It must be observed 
at this point, that every man expected to be met at the land- 
ing; for such, in military judgment, should have been the 
course of the enemy, and such would have been the case had 
the landing been made at the point vvhere the enemy expected 
it, and where his forces were collected. Preparations were 
therefore made for any possible contingency. Two steamers 
and five gunboats, arranged in line, covered the landing. 
Five thousand five hundred troops embarked in sixty-seven surf- 
boats. The signal-gun was fired. The seamen bent to their 
oars, and in a magnificent semicircle the boats swept rapidly 
towards the beach. Every man is anxious to be first. They 
plunge into the water before they reach the shore ! they rush 
through the sand-hills ! and with loud shouts they press for- 
ward ! They wave the flag of their country in the land of the 
Aztecs ! Where are their comrades ? They also soon em- 
bark — they hurry through the water — they land in safety — 
they rejoin their companions — they return shout for shout, to 
friends in the vessels and friends on shore. Safely, but hur- 
riedly, they then pass through this exciting crisis. 
■*" In the meanwhile, the sun shines down in the brilliance of 
his light, the waters are but just ruffled by a breeze, while the 
deep waves are calm and the sky serene. Full in view lies 
the city of Vera Cruz, and near is the renowned castle of San 
Juan d'Ulloa ! The harbor is crowded with foreign vessels, 
and decks and rigging are filled with wondering spectators! 
Never, says one, shall I forget the excitement of that scene ! 

The first division of troops had landed a little before sunset, 
the second and third followed in succession, and before ten 
o'clock the whole army (numbering twelve thousand men) was 
landed, without the slightest accident and without the loss of a 
single life ! 







Mi 




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2« 



i> ^ ^^ CASTLE §^6^1 





136 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Thus, at the distance of more than three hnndrerl years, was 
renewed the landing and march of Coriez / t»oin were oril- 
liant, and remarkable in history and conduct. The Spanish 
hero came to encounter and subdue on unknown shores, the 
Aztectic- American civilization. The Anglo-American came 
to meet and prevail against the Spanish-Aztec combination. 
Both came with inferior numbers, to illustrate the hii^her order 
and vastly superior energies of moral power. Both came 
agents controlled by air invisible spirit, in carrying forward 
the drama of Divine Providence on earth. In vain do we 
speculate as to the end ; it will be revealed oniy when the last 
curtain is drawn from the deep, mysterious Future. 

The landing at Vera Cruz, as a military operation, deserves 
a credit, which is seldom awarded to bloodless achievements. 
It is common to measure military operations by the current of' 
blood which has flowed. But why ? Is he not the best gen- 
eral who accomplishes the greatest results with the least loss ? 
Or must we adopt the savage theory, that the greatest inhu- 
manity is the greatest heroism ? Mere animal bravery is a 
common quality. Why, then, should the exhibition of so com- 
mon a quality, in an open battle, give distinction, Avhen it is 
skill only that is valuable, and science only that is uncom- 
mon ? This skill and science were exhibited in a most singular 
and felicitous manner, in the pre-arrangements, combinations, 
and success, which attended the landing of the American 
arn^y under the walls of Vera Cruz. 

Of this landing, as compared with a similar one by the 
French at Algiers, the New Orleans Bulletin of March 27th 
makes the following correct and interesting remarks : 

" The landing of the American army at Vera Cruz has 
been accomplished in a manner that reflects the highest credit 
on all concerned, &nd the regularity, precision, and prompt- 
ness with which it was effected, has probably not been sur- 
passed, if it has been equalled in modern warfare. 

*'The removal of a large body of troops from numerous 
transports into boats in an open sea — their subsequent disem- 
barkation on the sea-beach, on an enemy's coast, through a surf, 
with all their arms and accoutrements, without a single error 



SIEGE OF VERA CRUZ. 137 

or accident, requires great exertion, skill, and sound judg- 
ment. 

" The French expedition against Algiers, in 1830, was said 
to be the most complete armament in every respect that ever 
left Europe ; it had been prepared with labor, attention, and 
experience, and nothing had been omitted to ensure success, 
•and particularly in the means and facilities for landing the 
troops. This disembarkation took place in a wide bay, which 
was more favorable than an open beach directly on the ocean, 
and (as in the present instance) without any resistance on the 
j^rt of the enemy — yet, only nine thousand men were landed 
the first day, and from thirty to forty lives were lost by acci- 
dents, or upsetting of boats ; whereas, on the present occasion, 
twelve thousand men were landed in one day, without, so far as 
we have heard, the slightest accident or the loss of a single life." 

No troops of the enemy made direct opposition to the Ameri- 
can army on reaching the beach, but the guns of the castle 
and city kept up a constant firing with round-shot and thirteen- 
inch shells. The several corps immediately pccupied the 
lines of investment to which they had been respectively as- 
signed by General Scott's orders.* These orders pointed out 
the most minute particulars, and were based on prior infonna- 
iion, obtained by the engineer and topographical departments, 
and carefully analyzed and thoroughly studied, by the com- 
mander-in-chief. This information was so accurate, and so 
well understood by the commander, the engineers, and^ the 
chief of the staff, that they made no mistakes. They found 
all as they anticipated : their arrangements resulted as they 
intended, and the regiments and companies took their re- 
spective places as quietly and orderly as if they were pa- 
rading on the green banks of the Potomac ! Parties of the 
enemy appeared, and skirmishes took place, but nothing, seri- 
ously interrupted the progress of investment. On the r2th 
inst., the entire army had completely occupied its positions. f 

All this was not done without labor, fatigue, and exposure 

« General Orders, No. 47. 

t General Scott's Official Report, dated 12th of March, 1847. 

13* 



138 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

of the severest kind. The carts, horses, and mules, except a 
very few,* had not yet arrived. Innumerable hills of loose 
sand, and almost impassable thickets of chapporal, covered the 
ground of operations. Through these, by their own hands, 
ana" on their backs, soldiers, both regular and volunteer, 
dragged their provisions, their equipments, and munitions of 
war, under the rays of a sun already hot in a tropical climate. " 
The sands of this peculiar region are so light, that during the 
existence of a "norther," (a so-called wind of the Gulf,) if a 
man would lie down for an hour or two, he would inevitably 
be buried in the floating drifts ! He must therefore, at thi« 
season, seek shelter in chapporals. In such circumstances — un- 
der the distant fire of the enemy's fortresses, and in the midst of 
sharp skirmishes — the investment was completed. The lines 
of siege were five miles in length, and on that whole distance 
provisions must be carried and communications kept up with 
depots, and with ships at sea. In this, the officers and seamen 
of the navy co-operated with those of the army, in the most 
gallant and skilful manner. 

During this part of the siege, a " norther" prevailed, which 
rendered it impossible to land heavy ordnance. On the 17th, 
a pause occurred in the storm, and ten mortars, four twenty- 
four-pound guns, and some howitzers were landed. On the 
night of the 18th the trenches were opened, and, the engineers 
with the sappers and miners leading the way, the army gradu- 
ally closed in nearer the city. 

On the 22d of March — seven of the ten-inch mortars being 
in battery, and other works in progress — General Scott sum- 
moned the Governor of Vera Cruz to surrender the city. 
The governor, who was also governor of the castle, chose to 
consider the summons to surrender that, as well as the city, 
and rejected the proposition. On the return of the flag, the 
mortar battery, at ttie distance of eight hundred yards from 
the city, opened its fire on the city, and continued to fire 
during the day and night. 

• There had then arrived but fifteen carts and one hundred draught- 
horse*. 



SIEGE OF VERA CRUZ. 139 

On the 24th the batteries were reinforced with twenty-four 
pounders eind paixhan guns. On the 25th all the batteries 
were in " awful activity." Terrible was the scene ! The 
darkness of night was illuminated with blazing shells circling 
through the air. The roar of artillery and the heavy fall of 
descending shot were heard through the streets of the besieged 
city. The roofs of buildings were on fire. The domes of 
churches reverberated with fearful explosions. The sea was 
reddened with the broadsides of ships. The castle of San Juan 
returned, from its heavy batteries, the fire, the light, the smoke, 
the noise of battle. Such was the sublime and awfully terrible 
scene, as beheld from the trenches of the army, from the 22d 
to the 25th of March, when the accumulated science of ages, 
applied to the military art, had, on the plains of Vera Cruz, 
aggregated and displayed the fulness of its destructive power. 

On the evening of the 25th inst., the consuls of European 
powers residing in Vera Cruz, made application, by memorial, to 
General Scott for a truce, to enable them and the women and 
children of the city to retire. To this General Scott replied, — 
that a truce could only be granted on application of General Mo- 
rales, the governor, with a view to surrender;* that safeguards 
had already been sent to the foreign consuls, of which they had 
refused to avail themselves; that the blockade had been left 
open to consuls and neutrals to the 22d proximo ; and that the 
case of women and children, with their hardships and distresses, 
had been fully considered before one gun was fired. 

The memorial represented, that the batteries had already a 
terrible effect on the city — and by this, and other evidence, it 
was now clear that a crisis had arrived. The city must either 
be surrendered, c* it must be consigned to inevitable and most 
melancholy destruction. 

Accordingly, early on the morning of the 26th of March, 
General Landero, on whom the command had been devolved 
y>\ General Morales, made overtures of surrender. Arrange- 
ments had been made by Scott for carrying the city by assault 
©u that very day. The proposition of the Mexican general 



♦ Scott's Official Report of March 25, 1847. 



140 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

made this unnecessary, and Generals Worth and Pillow, with 
Colonel Totten of the engineer corps, were appointed commis- 
sion(;rs on the part of the American army, to treat with others 
appointed by the Governor of Vera Cruz. Late on the night 
of the 2Tth the articles of capitulation were signed and ex- 
clianged. 

On the 29ih of March, the official dispatch of General Scott 
announced that the flag of the United States floated over the 
walls of Vera Cruz and the castle of St. Juan d'LFlloa. The 
regular siege of the city had continued from the day of invest- 
ment, the 12th of March, to the day the articles of capitulation 
were signed, the 27th, making a period o^ fifteen days, in which 
active, continuous, and vigorous operations were carried on. 
During this time, our army had thrown 3,000 ten-inch shells, 
200 howitzer shells, 1,000 paixhan shot, and 2,500 round-shot, 
weighing on the whole about half a million of founds ! Most 
eirective and most terrible was the disaster and destruction ihey 
caused within the walls of the city, whose ruins and whose 
mourning attested both the energy and the sadness of war. 

By some, it was thought strange that the Governor of Vera 
Cruz should have surrendered so soon ; but, on a full exhibition 
of the facts of the siege, surprise gives place to admiration at 
the progress, power, and development of military science. The 
thirty years which had elapsed since the fall of Napoleon, had 
not been idly passed by military men. They had acquired 
and systematized new arts and i\qw methods in the art of war. 
Nor were American officers inattentive to this progress. They 
had shared in it all, and when the siege of Vera Cruz was 
undertaken, this new power and method were fully displayed. 
The city was environed with cords of strength, in which all its 
defences must be folded and crushed. The result was inevi- 
table. The officers of Vera Cruz saw this, and although the 
castle of San Juan might have held out a few days longer, for 
what purpose would it have been ? There is no rule of mill 
tary science which requires fighting when fighting is useless. 
There is no law of humanity which would not be violated by 
the wanton exposure of towns and inhabitants when defence was 
impossible. The surrender was, therefore, alike just to victors 



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142 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

and defenders, both of whom had arrived at an inevitable end, — 
the result of progress in high civilization, and of the highest 
military skill and accomplishments. 

By the terms of capitulation, all the arms and munitions of 
var were given up to the United States; five thousand' prison- 
ers surreic^ered on parole; near five hundred pieces of fine 
artillery were taken ; the best port of Mexico captured and 
possessed ; and the famed castle of San Juan, said to be im- 
pregnable, and which had -been refitted and equipped in the 
best possible manner, yielded its defences to the superior skill 
and energy of the Anglo-Americans. At 10 a. m., on the morn- 
ing of the 29th, that people, who centuries before had, with a 
small band, marched through the Aztec empire, and, with the 
pride of power, supplanted its ancient dominion, struck their 
flags and quietly submitted to another and a newer race, who 
had come over the Atlantic later than themselves, but who had 
imbibed other principles, and been impelled by stronger ener- 
gies, in the colder regions of the north. On the castle of San 
Juan, on the forts of Santiago and Conception, the banner of the 
American Union gracefully ascended, and, amidst the shouts 
and cheers of warriors on sea and shore, bent its folds to the 
breeze, and looked forth over the Mexican Gulf. 

In this great and successful enterprise, the American arms 
met with but little loss. Two officers,* (valuable, however, to 
their corps and country,) with a few soldiers, were all the 
deaths. So great a result, obtained with so little loss, may be 
sought in vain among the best campaigns of the best generals 
of modern times. There are those, who think victory bright- 
est when achieved in the carnival of death, and the laurel 
greenest which is plucked from a crimson tree. But this is 
not the estimate of the humane, the honorable, or the intelli- 
gent. They, in this age of the world, will deem that achieve- 
ment greatest which costs the least, where skill has been sub- 
stituted for death, and science for the brave but often wasted 
energy of bodily force. 

• Captains Alburtis and Vinton, both distinguished officers, were kilied, 
with Mveral private soldiers. 



MARCH INTO THE INTERIOR. 143 

Some incidents of this siege are related, which illustrate the 
character of General Scott and the nature of the war. On 
one occasion, when the General was walking along the trenches, 
the soldiers would frequently rise up and look over the parapet. 
The General cried out, " Down — down, men ! — don't expose 
yourselves." " But, General," said one, " you are exposed." 
" Oh !" said Scott, ^'■generals, now-a-days, can be made out of 
anybody, but men cannot be had." 

Something has been severely said, as to the loss of women 
and children by the bombardment of the city ; but this is un- 
justly said. Scott, as appears by the official papers, gave 
ample notice of the danger to consuls, neutrals, and non-com- 
batants in the city, and ample time for them to remove. That 
they, or at least many of them, did not avail themselves of 
that notice, was their own fault ; and, by the laws of war, it 
was both unnecessary and impossible that the siege should be 
delayed, or given up, on account of the inhabitants within, 
who had long known that the United States army would land 
there, and who had received from the commander full notice 
of danger. 



MARCH TO THE INTERIOR AND BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO. 

We must now resume the march of Scott's army to the 
capital of Mexico. Worth is appointed (for the time) governor 
of Vera Cruz. The army is organized for an advance on the 
Jalapa road — but wagons are wanting. Eight thousand men 
are to be thrown forward into the heart of Mexico. Quantities 
of ammunition, provisions, cannon, arms are to be carried. 
Yet the wagons, horses, and mules which are to do this ser- 
vice are not yet arrived. A little while since, and they were 
two thousand miles off, in the heart of the United States. J>uJ, 
they will come. They are descending the Ohio and the Mis- 
sissippi. They will be here. One by one, dozen by dozen, 
they arrive. On the 8th of April, ten days after the surrender 



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CAi/iisSe 



BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO. 143 

of Vera (^uz, the veteran Twiggs, with his heroic division, 
takes the Jalapa road. Other divisions rapidly follow. " In 
three days they reach the foot of the mountains, from whose 
heights may be seen the splendid vision of Orizabo, and its 
snow-crowned tops, along whose ridges the road continues to 
the ancient capital of the Montezumas ; and from whose almost 
impregnable summits, looks down Santa Anna with fifteen 
thousand men. The Mexican chief, defeated at Buena Vista, 
had rapidly traversed the interior provinces with the greater 
part of his army, and now sought to defend the heights of Cerro 
Gordo, formidable by nature, with batteries and intrench- 
ments. - 

Here Twiggs makes a reconnoissance on the 12th, and de- 
termines to attack the enemy next morning. In the meanwhile 
Patterson arrives with volunteers, and delays the attack till 
the arrival of the general-in-chief. Scott makes a new recon- 
noissance, and perceives that an attack in front would be in 
vain, for the batteries there are commanded by the still higher 
ones on the summits of Cerro Gordo. He orders a road to be 
cut to the right of the American army, but to the left of Cerro 
Gordo, which winds round the base of the mountains and as- 
cends them in the rear of the Mexican forts, there rejoining 
the Jalapa road, and behind the whole Mexican position. The 
labor, the skill, the courage of American soldiers accomplish 
it. For three days the Mexicans do not discover it. It is nearly 
done on the 17th, when they fire with grape and musketry on 
the working parties. Twiggs again advances to the storm. 
He carries the hill below Cerro Gordo, but above the new 
road. All is safe now, and all is ready for the coming battle. 
On the 17th of April Scott issues his celebrated order, dated 
Plan del Rio. It details, with prophetic accuracy, the move- 
ments of the following day — the positions, the attack, the bat- 
tle, the victory, and the hot pursuit, till the spires of Jalapa 
should appear in sight. It is an order most remarkable in 
history, and struck with surprise the most eminent military 
men of Europe. They hesitated not to say that it placed 
General Scott in the first rank of military commanders. 

13 







A. American army 

B. Batter^', (American.) 

C. Cerro Gordo & Tower 

D. Twiggs' march. 

a, a, <5-c. Mexican butteries. 

b, b. Pillow's brigade. 
N. R. National road. 

d. Gen. Shields' brigade, 
G. Hill stormed by 'id inf. 
F. 8 in. howitzer, (Aroer.') 



ADVANCE ON CERRO GORDO. 147 

The order thus given was realized to the letter, with the 
exception that General Pillow's brigade was repulsed in the 
attack on the batteries in front. They were, however, taken, 
and their garrisons made prisoners, by the advanced corps of 
the army, at the close of the battle. In each particular — of 
march, battle, victory, and pursuit — the order of Scott was 
prophetically correct. It proves the confidence of the com- 
mander in the indomitable energy of his troops. On the night 
of that day, (the 17th,) the enemy's position appears almost 
impregnable. On their right rolls a deep river. Along its 
side rises a chain of mountains one thousand feet in height. 
On these, heavy batteries frown down on all below. Over 
all rises the summit and tower of Cerro Gordo. Winding 
among the gorges of these mountains, and at last turning be- 
tween the highest battery and the river below, is the National 
road, by which only the American army must pass. The 
Anglo-xA-merican soldier looks out from his camp at Plan del 
Rio, and sees this deep river on the side, this rampart of 
mountains in front, the high batteries beyond, and knows that 
the Mexican chief with fifteen thousand men is encamped on 
these mountains thus strongly defended. How shall he be 
attacked ? 

On the night of the 17th, a thousand men of Twiggs' divi- 
sion are detailed on their route to plant an American battery 
on the captured hill below Cerro Gordo. A heavy twenty-four 
pounder was brought up, and two twenty-four pound howitzers. 
These were dragged by main force up the hill, hundreds of 
feet high, in a night of total darkness. A fire is built below, 
and the officers and men are told to take the cannon straight 
up. They are already fatigued, exhausted, and parched with 
thirst ; but they stop not for these. They are divided into 
two parties, of five hundred men each, for relief. They drag 
the pieces up with the hands. Here they stop, block up, and 
chain the wheels, till they are relieved by the other division. 
Again they go on, and again they relieve. Thus they go on 
from seven in the evening till three in the morning. The 
ground is covered with exhausted soldiers, some to sleep and 
some to rest. But the cannon are carried up. The morning 



148 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

finds them on the hill, and as the rosy light blushes in the 
heavens, the soft music of the Mexican reveille is heard sum- 
moning their men to the muster. The batteries and encamp- 
ments are revealed. The fine body of Mexican lancers, in 
splendid uniforms and with an unfurled standard, are moving 
along. Here battalions of artillery, and there a dense column 
of infantry, arrest the attention. Below and above are batteries 
darkly threatening to open their fire. This captured position 
thus commands all the defences but Cerro Gordo. But that 
is above. That can fire down upon every position which could 
be taken. It is plain, then, that the fort of Cerro Gordo is the 
key position of all the rest. This the discriminating eye of 
military science had clearly seen. Scott sees it, and has pre- 
pared for it. Hence the new road was made, winding, as you 
see, around the base of the mountain to our right, but to the 
left of Cerro Gordo, so that this citadel of the Mexican camp 
may be stormed from the flank, and the retreat of the troops 
by the National road cut off. Hence, the night work of our 
men, so that our new hill-fort may command these batteries of 
the enemy, and at the right moment compel their surrender. 
All is well done. All is ready. The night-watch is past. 
Twiggs' division, which has rested on its arms, is rousing itself 
at the first light. The gallant artillerymen and engineers on 
the hill cut away the light brush in front of their guns, and 
now the heavy cannon begin their fire on the hill batteries. 
Their thunder tones are echoed from the mountain sides, 
and returned from the pieces of the enemy. The division of 
Twiggs is marching. The volunteers of Shields are hurrying 
on to seize the Jalapa road in rear of Santa Anna. Cerro 
Gordo now opens its plunging fire on Twiggs, and the issue 
has come. Cerro Gordo must be stormed. The storm is led 
by the gallant Harney. They fight under the eye of Scott. 
Here march the rifles, the 1st artillery, the 7th infantry; and 
near them, and with them storming the heights, are the 2d and 
the 3d infantry, and the 4th artillery. These are the regulars 
of Twiggs, and here they march up the rocky ascent, so steep 
that they must climb as they go, and with no covering but the 
very steepness of the hill. They receive a plunging fire in 



BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO. 149 

front and a rolling fire on the flanks — but, on they go. On — 
on, Harney leads his men. The front rank melts away before 
the shot ; but they stop not till the hill is gained, and then a 
long and loud shout echoes from the mountain sides — Cerro 
Gordo is gained ! Vasquez, the Mexican general, is killed in 
the fortress. Now the flags of the 1st artillery and 7th infantry 
are planted on the batteries, and now Sergeant Henry hauls 
down the national standard of Mexico. The Anglo-American 
again unfurls the flag of his country, and again renews the vic- 
tories of Cortez. But where are the Volunteers ? Yet further 
to the right, and hastening to the Jalapa road. They storm a 
fort in front — the heroic Shields is shot through the lungs — 
but the fort is taken — the road is gained — and the flying array 
of Santa Anna is pursued in all directions. 

On the 19th of April, from Plan del Rio, Scott announces to 
the War Department, that he is embarrassed with the results 
of'victory ! Three thousand prisoners, forty-three pieces of 
bronze artillery manufactured at Seville, five thousand stand 
of arms, five generals, with the munitions and materials of an 
army, captured in a single battle, are the fruits of victory, and 
demand the earnest care of the conquering general ! The 
men must be paroled ; the small-arms must be destroyed ; we 
have not men to take care of them. 

Such was THE Battle of Cerro Gordo. In the skill with 
which it was planned, in the formidable defences to be sur- 
mounted, in the heroism of the attack, and in the magnitude 
of results, with which of American battles will it not compare? 
There were almost impassable obstacles, surmounted by skill ; 
there were almost impregnable batteries, stormed by valor ; 
there were thousands of prisoners captured, and an army de- 
stroyed ; there was a road to the capital laid open, and towns 
and cities taken in the long vista of a victorious march ! The 
Mexican empire lies under the feet of the conqueror, and 
again is the Aztec compelled to witness the triumphs of power, 
and uiter by the Ruins of the Past, the mournings of the 
Present ! 



150 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



ENTRANCE OF THE ARMY INTO PUEBLA. ■ — TURNING LAKE 
CHALCO. ITS POSITION OxV THE 1 8tH OF AUGUST. 

In a mornino- of the beautiful month of Mav, and within the 
tropical zone, the x\merican army of the north entered the 
" City of the Angels ;" in the Spanish tongue, Puehla de los 
Angelas. They came with the renown, sounding far in ad- 
vance, of San Juan de Ulloa captured, and the heights of 
Cerro Gordo victoriously stormed. They had landed on the 
shores of the Mexican Gulf, intrenched themselves in the 
wind-driven sands, battered the defences of Vera Cruz, re- 
ceived the surrender of the castle, and marched two hundred 
miles into the land of the Spanish-Aztec Americans. The 
National Bridge had been passed, Jalapa had surrendered, 
Perote made no resistance, and now the bold invaders of 
Mexico approached a city surrounded by the monuments of 
ancient civilization, and deemed fit, in the warm imagination 
of southern climes, for celestial residents. 

The citizens of Puebla crowded the streets, and the bal- 
conies, on the line, were filled with spectators. They had 
formed the idea, that such troops must be extraordinary in 
appearance, or superhuman in power. But, what was their 
surprise, when they beheld men of common stature, dressed 
in the common gray uniform, and with weary aspect ! In 
truth, many of them had been ill ; they were fatigued with 
their march, and negligent of their dress. They piled their 
arms in the public square, and lay down to sleep, as if no 
enemy were near ! 

The army, as it entered Puebla, was stated, by a Mexican 
eye-witness, to have numbered four thousand two hundred and 
ninety efiective men, with thirteen pieces of artillery. This 
was the marching force, at that date, and the official returns 
prove that this statement was very nearly correct. Scott's 
force, at that time capable of marching on Mexico, did not 
exceed ybwr thousand Jive hundred men. 

Thus it happened, that on]y Jive thousand effective men could 
be gathered in Puebla immediately after Scott's arrival. Was 



COMMISSIONER TRIST. 151 

this small force (henceforth to be isolated) to march on the 
capital of Mexico ? With the confidence of an American, the 
ardor of a successful general, and in full reliance on the ener- 
gies of the American soldier, Scott would have advanced, even 
with this diminished force. He w^as stopped, however, by- 
other and unexpected events. 

The cabinet at Washington both professed and felt an 
anxious desire for peace. The war had not been anticipated. 
The results, however successful and glorious to the United 
States, were, politically, very uncertain. If Mexico was en- 
tirely conquered, what could be done with its strange and 
heterogeneous population ? If new territories were acquired, 
what would be their influence on the various sections of the 
Union ? How were the fruits of victory to be handled and 
disposed of ? Fearful, not of failure in arms, but of results in 
peace, the cabinet of Mr. Polk held out professions of amity 
whenever it honorably could. The campaign of the Rio 
Grande had been planned and conducted on the same prin- 
ciple. Its object was to cut off the Rio Grande provinces, 
and thus induce Mexico to make peace, without forcing us to 
conquer the heart of the country. 

It was with these views and feelings that the Executive 
Government undertook the singular and remarkable mission of 
Mr. Nicholas P. Trist. This gentleman was, in the com- 
mencement of 1847, chief clerk in the Department of State. 
He was dispatched by the cabinet with letters to certain per- 
sons in Mexico, and with powers to conclude a peace. He 
was not an envoy — a character known only in peace — but a 
sort of extraordinary Commissioner near the seat of war. 
Trist arrived at Jalapa just before Scott's departure for Puebla. 
Pie immediately intimated a desire to transmit certain papers 
to the Mexican government. The army, however, continued 
its march to Puebla. Such was the condition of thinsfs in the 
beginning of June. A Government Commissioner was there, 
anxious for peace, and seeking negotiation. The army was 
reduced to less than five thousand men, — in the midst of an 
enemy's country, and already nearly isolated in its communi- 
cations ; while Scott is anxious to go forward, and, in the city 



152 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

of Mexico, complete that " conquest of peace," which, from 
the beginning, he had foreseen must be done. Yet he is re- 
strained, by imperative considerations, both civil and military. 
The civil reason was this mission of Mr. Trist. If the propo- 
sitions he made were acceptable to the authorities in Mexico, 
then the negotiation necessarily implied a cessation of hos- 
tilities. 

The military reasons were sufficiently serious to restrain 
the ardor of the boldest commander ; and the event proved the 
sagacity of the General, who, anticipating only victory, never- 
theless sacrificed his ardor to the highest prudential considera- 
tions. 1st. The small force of which the army was then com- 
posed, was unable to keep open its communications. In fact, 
notwithstanding all the reinforcements which arrived between 
May and September, the communication of the main army 
with Vera Cruz was cut off during the whole period. 2dly. 
The whole army, then at Puebla, was only sufficient to con- 
stitute a garrison for the city of Mexico, — in which it would 
have been shut up, incapable of offensive movements. 3dly. 
The main army of Santa Anna was yet unbroken, and would 
have been left free to have fallen on the advancing reinforce- 
ments, attacking them in detail. Such were the conclusive 
reasons which restrained General Scott's desire to advance, 
and obliged him to remain at Puebla. 

The delay at Puebla proved eminently advantageous to the 
future operations of the army. The troops were drilled, dis- 
ciplined, and recruited in strength. In the mean while, the 
government had exerted itself to supply the places of the dis- 
charged volunteers with new regiments. Congress had au- 
thorized the enlistment of ten new regiments. The recruiting 
went forward rapidly ; and, as fast as the men could be got 
ready, they were sent forward. On the 5ih of May, Colonel 
Mcintosh left Vera Cruz with a large train and eight hundred 
men. They were attacked at Passo de Ovejas, and checked ; 
but were, in a few days, joined by General Cadwallader with 
six hundred men and six howitzers. 

On the 17th of May, General Pillow left Vera Cruz with 
another detachment of one thousand men ; and, at a subsequent 



AMERICAN FORCES. 153 

period, General Pierce was sent forward with two thousand 
five hundred. The garrison at Jalapa was also broken up and 
added to the main army. These various reinforcements, minor 
detachments, the garrison of Jalapa, the convalescents, in- 
valids, and garrison of Puebla, with the original force, con- 
stituted the army of Scott in the beginning of August, and is 
represented in the following table : 



ARMY ON THE 6tH DAY OF AUGUST, 1847. 

Scott's forces at Puebla, (including all,) 7,000 

Cadwallader's Brigade, 1,400 

Pillow's " 1,800 

Pierce's Corps " 2,409 

Garrison of Puebla, under Colonel Childs, 1,400 

Total arrived at Puebla, 14,009 

Deduct from this, garrison of Puebla, with the sick in 

hospitals, 3,261 



Total marched from Puebla, 10,748 

Thus, the effective force of the army which left Puebla for 
the city of Mexico was just 10,748 men. There were left in 
Puebla 3,261 men ; of whom no less than 1,900 were, at 
one time, in the hospitals ! Of these, 700 there found their 
graves ! 

The time had now come for the army to commence its 
march to Mexico. The plan had been formed before the 
General left Washington. The army was divided into four 
Divisions, with a Cavalry Brigade, of which the following is 
a tabular view : 

Cavalry Brigade, ( l"} I^^agoons, Capt. Kearney, 
n 1 Tj ' -< 2d " Mai. Sumner, >• Parts. 

Col. Harney. | 3^ .. ^^^^ McReynolds. ^ 

r 



r2d Regiment Artillery. 

1st Brigade, J 3d " " 

- . TV- . . Col. Garland. 1 4th " Infantry. 

Ist Division, T-. > -n- Tj -D xj. 

0„n W„HV -i L Duncan 3 Field Battery. 

2d Brigade, ( ^fj '"'f ^^ 

Col. Clarke. 1 g^j^ „ 



154 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



2d Division, 
Gen. Twiggs. 



8d Division, 
Gen. Pillow. 



4th Division, 
Gen. Quitman. 



1st Brigade, 
Gen. Smith. 



2d Brigade, 
Col. Riley. 



it: 

(71 



1st Brigade, 
Gen. Cadwallader. 

2d Brigade, 
Gen. Pierce. 

Ist Brigade, 
Gen. Shields. 

2d Brigade. 



f Rifle Regiment. 
J 1st Artillery. 
3d Infantry. 
Taylor's Battery. 
4th Artillery. 
st Infantry, 
th 
( Voltigeurs. 
4 11th Infantry. 
( 14th 
9th 
12th 
15th 
South Carolina Volunteers. 
New York Volunteers. 
2d Penn. 
Detachment of U. S. Marines. 



These regiments would represent, according to military 
computation,^ twenty thousand men. But, it must be recol- 
lected, that they were many of them only skeleton regiments. 
They averaged not more than half the nominal number of a 
regiment, and some of them had not more than three hundred 
men each. 

The army was now on the great road from Puebla to Mexi- 
co, which passed to the east of Lake Chalco, and between 
that and Lake Tezcuco.* On the 11th inst., the division 
reached Ayotla, north of Lake Chalco, and only fifteen miles 
by the National Road from the city of Mexico, where it waited 
for the other divisions to come up. As yet, they had met no 
enemy. The time had now come, however, in which it was 
necessary to reconnoitre the defences of Mexico, and deter- 
mine on the ultimate plan of action. 

By referring to a map of the valley of Mexico, it will be 
seen, that in front (to the north) lay the great Lake of Tezcu- 
co, along the south border of which wound the National Road 
to the city of Mexico, on the west side of the lake. South of 
Ayotla, where the division of Twiggs now lay, is Lake Chalco. 
West of Ayotla, and near Chalco, is Lake Xochimilco. West 
of that, and nearly at right angles with the National Road, is 



* Refer to the Map of the Battle-grounds in Mexico, page 171. 



POSITION OP THE ALMY. 155 

the Acapulco road, leading from Mexico to the Pacific, and 
passing through the villages of San Antonia and San Augus- 
tine. Still further west is the Toluca road, passing through 
Tacubaya. The ground through which these roads enter 
Mexico is generally a marshy valley or plain, which is pro- 
tected from the water by dikes and causeways. The inter- 
mediate marshes, filled with bogs and water, were almost or 
quite impracticable for the passage of troops. On the other 
hand, the great roads and causeways were fortified by the 
Mexicans. In front, near the National Road, and about seven 
miles from Mexico, was El Penon, a fortified movmtain. West 
of that, near the head of Lake Xochimilco, and five miles from 
Mexico, is Mexicalcingo, another fortified point. To the west 
of the lakes, and on or near the Acapulco road, (between San 
Augustine and the city of Mexico,) lay, in succession, San 
Antonia, Contreras, and Churubusco, fortified points. Contre- 
ras was a hill rather to the west of San Augustine. Churu- 
busco was at the crossing of a canal or river, called the Churu- 
busco River. At this point was a t^te du pont, or bridge-head, 
a fortification. Much nearer to the city were the King's Mill 
(Molino del Rey) and Chapultepec. Thus there was a con- 
tinuous circle of fortified points, on the practicable roads or 
approaches to the city. 

On the 13th of August, the position of the American army 
was as follows, viz. : Twiggs' division, at Ayotla, north of 
Lake Chalco ; Worth's division, near the village of Chalco, at 
the south end of the lake ; and the divisions of Pillow and 
Quitman, intermediate. Between Ayotla and Chalco may 
have been five miles. 

The problem now presented to Scott was, on which of the 
main roads should he march to and attack the city ? Should 
he continue on the National Road, and storm £Jl Penon ? or 
should he turn off and gain the Acapulco road ? Was the last 
practicable ? 

The real question on the ground was. Could the Lake Chalco 
be turned ? The reconnaissances made, and the information of 
scouts, determined that point, and the order was immediately 
given to reverse the movement of the entire army. 



156 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

On the 15ih of August, the several divisions took up their 
line of march, Worth's corps being now in advance, and the 
others following in the reverse order of their advance. 

The road lay along the margin of the lake, at the base of 
rocky mountains, and at times crossing their spurs. The hills 
were often precipitous, and the army might have been much 
obstructed and annoyed by sharp-shooters and the rolling of 
stones. Little of this, however, was attempted ; and in two 
days' time (on the 17th) the head of Worth's division had 
reached San Augustine, on the Acapulco road. Twiggs' di- 
vision, which was in advance, but was now in rear, left Ayotla 
on the 16th, with the train ; the brigade of General Smith 
forming the rear-guard. 

On the 18th of August, the army of Scott was concentrated 
in the valley of Mexico, his head-quarters being at San Au- 
gustine. The movement of the last two days was one of great 
importance. On the 13th, as we have seen, the army had 
taken position east of and beyond Lake Chalco, on the Na- 
tional Road, the advance being at Ayotla, fifteen miles from 
Mexico. On the 18th, it was to the west of Lake Chalco, on 
the Acapulco road, and nine miles from Mexico. Lake Chalco 
and the Mexican defences on the National Road had been 
completely turned. The fortifications in front were not so 
strong, the distance to the city less, and the field of operations 
for the army better. 

All the plans of General Scott were formed with the highest 
military skill, and were executed with the utmost success. His 
conduct was marked with humanity and discretion. He was 
now come to the crisis of the campaign, and we shall see with 
what brilliant victories and extraordinary success this great 
American general was crowned in the battles of Mexico. 



MEXICAN LINES OF DEFENCE. 157 



MEXICAN DEFENCES. BATTLES OF CONTRERAS AND 

' CHURUBUSCO. 

On the 18th of August, when the American army had gained 
its position on the Acapulco road, the city of Mexico was 
surrounded by two lines of defences, manned by a numerous 
and well-appointed army, under the command of General Santa 
Anna. These defences must be overcome and that army de- 
feated, before Scott can enter the city and conquer a peace. 
The fortifications were of a most formidable character, and 
the ground of such a nature that they could not be passed with 
safety. Mexico, as we have seen, lies in a valley, and is 
almost the lowest spot in the valley.* This valley was proba- 
bly, at some time, the bottom of a great lake, of which Lakes 
Tezcuco, Christobal, Chalco, and Xochimilco are the remains. 
Not many centuries since, the city of Mexico was surrounded 
wholly by water, and approached only by great causeways, 
built up in the water. These causeways yet make the only 
good and safe approaches to the city ; for, in the wet season, 
the intermediate spaces are covered with water, and in the 
dry season are boggy and marshy. Scott's army approached 
the city in the month of August, when the country was dry, 
yet the fields were unfit for the passage of an army. Hence 
it was by the main roads that the army must attack the city, 
and, in moving forward, must attack and capture the defences 
on one or more of the causeways. Let us see how the Mexi- 
can defences were situated. 

The exterior line of defences commenced with El Penorty 
a rocky and precipitous hill, near Lake Tezcuco, surmounted 
with batteries of heavy cannon, and impregnable, except with 
great loss of men. This fortress commanded the National 
. Road, by which the American army had advanced beyond 
Lake Chalco, and to defend which Santa Anna had placed his 



* The Great Square of Mexico is but one foot and one inch higher than 
the level of Lake Tezcuco, and is several feet lower than the other lakes. 



158 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Strongest preparations. West of this, on another causeway 
leading from Lake Xochimilco to the city, was Mexicalcingo, 
also surmounted with batteries and breastworks. To attack 
these had been decided by Scott inexpedient. He therefore, 
as we have seen, turned all these defences, and, marching 
round Lake Chalco, was now at St, Augustine, on the Acapulco 
road. But here, again, the line of defences was continued. 
Immediately in front lay the fortitied village of San Antonia. 
Nearer the city, where the road crosses a canal or stream, was 
Churubusco, defended by a Tete du Pont (Bridge-head) in 
front, by stone houses garrisoned, and by a line of intrench- 
ments. To the left (west) of St. Augustine was the hill of 
Contreras, also fortified with batteries. Between that and St. 
Augustine the ground was covered with pedrigal, or lava-stone, 
broken, rough, and almost impassable. Nearer Mexico is 
Chapultepec, a hill strongly fortified, on which is situated the 
Mexican Military College. At the foot and near the hill is 
Molino del Rey, (the King's Mill,) Casa de Mata, and a fortified 
stone wall. 

These defences, as will be observed by reference to the 
map, covered every practicable road to the city of Mexico ; 
and it cannot be denied that the Mexican general (Santa 
Anna) had chosen and prepared his plan of defence with great 
military skill. There was no neglected point by which the 
city could be assailed, without a battle previously fought and 
won. The fortifications which must be taken before the army 
stormed Chapultepec or captured Mexico, were these : 

Batteries. Guns. Infantry Breastworks. 

Contreras 1 22 

San Antonia 7 24 2 

Churubusco 2 15 

Total 10 61 2 

The hour had now come when the final issue of the campaign 
must depend only on the victory of arms. 

General Scott took position on an eminence in front of Con- 
treras, at 4 p. M. of the 19th, and continued to direct the move- 
ments of troops during the action which ensued. Our artillery- 



ADVANCE ON CONTRERAS. 159 

men could get but three pieces into play, while the batteries 
of Contreras had twenty-two^ which therefore rendered our fire 
nearly nugatory. 

The American cavalry could not advance on the ground 
passed, and the infantry could not advance in column, without 
being mowed down by the grape and canister of the batteries, 
nor advance in line, without being ridden over by the enemy's 
numerous cavalry. The action of the 19th lasted three hours, 
till nightfall, in which time the American troops sustained 
several charges of the Mexican cavalry, and maintained their 
position. The action of the day was indecisive. Our army, 
however, had gained the great point of seeing precisely what 
was to be done the next day, and of making important move- 
ments during the night. 

From his position in front of Contreras, Scott, with the quick 
perception of military relations which belongs only to high 
military genius, had seen Santa Anna reinforcing Contreras 
by troops from Mexico, along the San Angel road ; had seen 
the hamlet at the foot of Contreras commanding that road ; 
had seen the ravines in rear (west) of Contreras ; and had 
seen the covering of woods and orchards near the hamlet ; and 
had formed, at a glance, the plan which was ultimately carried 
into effect. This was to throw forward a body of troops, in 
the evening, into the hamlets of Contreras and Anselda, which 
would cut off reinforcements during the attack on Contreras, 
and intercept the retreat of the enemy, when that intrenchment 
was taken ; then to attack Valencia from the ravine in the 
rear, while a strong diversion was made in front. When this 
succeeded, San Antonia could be turned, and attacked in rear, 
as well as in front. Accordingly, all arrangements were made 
for this result. 

The night of the 19th was by no means promising. That 
portion of the troops immediately engaged (the Rifles, 1st Ar- 
tillery, and 3d Infantry) had terminated a day of conflict, with- 
out any decisive result ; and had marched to their new posi- 
tion, through chapporal and cacti, tired, hungry, and dispirited. 
The night was dark, rainy, and cold. So dark was it, that 
seven officers sent on by Scott for information from Shields 



160 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

and Smith, had failed to return ; and one only (Captain Lee) 
had been able to bring intelligence from Shields. At night, 
when the brigades of Smith, Riley, Shields, and Ransom's 
regiment lay in and about the bamlet of Contreras, or Anselda, 
the rain poured down, so that the stream in the road flooded 
them. There they stood, crowded together, drenched and be- 
numbed, waiting till daylight. The cry, however, that they 
were " to storm^'' the enemy's post, reanimated them, and all 
was again ready for action. 

At 3 A. M. of the 20th, the decisive movements of the day 
commenced. General Persifer F. Smith, an officer whose 
skill and gallantry are of the highest order, was first on the 
ground, and became the immediate commander in the action. 
General Shields, his senior, yielded that position to him, and 
undertook to hold the village, and cut off the enemy's retreat, 
which was gallantly performed. 

At 4 A. M., the troops of Riley and Smith, which had occu- 
pied the hamlet and road of Contreras during the night, defiled 
into their position in rear of the enemy,^ through a ravine 
covered by orchards and corn-fields. The nature of the ground, 
and the negligence of the Mexicans, favored our troops in a 
remarkable manner. The enemy's batteries and their whole 
attention appear to have been directed to the eastern and 
southern declivity of the hills, where our first attack had been 
made, and where they anticipated another. On the contrary, 
however, the brigades of Riley, Smith, and Cadwallader had, 
during the night, lain in the village on the north, and had now 
crept up the ravine on the west, till nothing but the crest of a 
hill intervened between them and the Mexicans ! Riley's 
brigade was on the extreme south, in the ravine behind the 
enemy's right, Cadwallader's next, and Smith's behind the 
enemy's left, all ready to spring up, at 6 a. m., when the ar- 
rangements were completed. 

When the word of attack was given, our men sprung up in 
both rear and flanks of the astonished Mexicans, rushed head- 
long over the crest of the hill, and dashed pell-mell into the 
intrenchments ! The batteries were taken, the army of Va- 
lencia driven out, and its flying remnants pursued on the road 



THE AMERICANS VICTORIOUS. 161 

to Mexico ! So admirable were the dispositions, and so ener- 
getic the action, that the battle was ended almost as soon as 
begun ! The actual conflict lasted but seventeen minutes I 
The pursuit was for hours. The results were gigantic. Of 
the scene during the battle, we take a description from a 
graphic writer who was an eye-witness. 

" At last, just at daylight. General Smith, slowly walking up, 
asked if all was ready. A look answered him. ^ Men ^ for- 
ward !' and we did ' forward.' Springing up at once, Riley's 
brigade opened, when the crack of a hundred rifles startled the 
Mexicans from their astonishment, and they opened their fire. 
Useless fire, for we were so close that they overshot us, and 
before they could turn their pieces on us, we were on them. 
Then such cheers arose as you never heard. The men rushed 
forward like demons, yelling and firing the while. The car- 
nage was frightful, and though they fired sharply, it was of no 
use. The earthen parapet was cleared in an instant, and the 
blows of the stocks could be plainly heard, mingled wiih the 
yells and groans around. Just before the charge was made, a 
large body of lancers came winding up the road, looking most 
splendidly in their brilliant uniforms. They never got to the 
work, but turned and fled. In an instant all was one mass of 
confusion, each trying to be foremost in the flight. The road 
was literally blocked up ; and, while inp.ny perished by their 
own guns, it was almost impossible to fire on the mass from 
the danger of killing our own men. Some fled up the ravine 
on the left, or on the right, and many of these were slain by 
turning their own guns upon them. Towards the city, the 
rifles and 2d infantry led oft' the pursuit. Seeing that a large 
crowd of fugitives were jammed up in a pass in the road, some 
of the men ran through the corn-field, and by thus heading 
them off" and firing down upon them, about thirty men took 
over five hundred prisoners, nearly a hundred of them ofljcers." 

The results of the battle are thus described by General Scott, 
in his Official Report : 

" Thus was. the great victory of Contreras achieved ; one 
road to the capital opened; 700 of the enemy killed; 813 
prisoners, including, among 88 officers, 4 generals ; besides 



162 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. • 

many colors and standards ; 22 pieces of brass ordnance, half 
of large calibre ; thousands of small arms and accoutrements ; 
an immense quantity of shot, shells, powder, and cartridges ; 
700 pack mules, many horses, &c., &c. — all in our hands." 

" One of the most pleasing incidents of the victory is the 
recaptrure, in the works, by Captain Drum, 4th artillery, under 
Major Gardner, of the two brass six-pounders taken from another 
company of the same regiment, though without the loss of 
honor, at the glorious battle of Buena Vista, about which guns 
the whole regiment had mourned for so many months. Com- 
ing up, a little later, I had the happiness to join in the pro- 
tracted cheers of the gallant 4th, on the joyous event ; and, 
indeed, the whole army sympathizes in its just pride and 
exultation." 

The Battle of Contreras was both brilliant and decisive. 
It was fought by four thousand jive hundred men against seven 
thousand, under Valencia in the intrenchments, and twelve 
thousand, commanded by Santa Anna, supporting them, — mak- 
ing nearly twenty thousand of the enemy actually in the field. 
It was fought and won so rapidly, that the divisions of Worth 
and Quitman, which had been ordered to riiake a diversion in 
front, east, had not time to arrive ! But it was not merely the 
battle which gave consequence and brilliancy to this achieve- 
ment : it illustrated, fa a remarkable manner, the high skill 
and superior strategy by which Scott accomplished his trium- 
phal conquest of Mexico. We have seen him turning all the 
strong eastern defences of Mexico, making San Augustine the 
centre of his operations ; and now we see him turning San 
Antonia, by this storm and victory at Contreras. The moment 
the divisions of Twiggs and Pillow had achieved the victory, 
and were in pursuit of the Mexicans, they were on the road, 
through San Angel and Coyohacan, to Churubusco, which they 
would attack in flank, and San Antonia in the rear ! It was 
this strategetic movement, and its successful result, which 
cleared the road to Mexico. 

At 8 A. M., five hours after the troops commenced taking 
their positions in the ravine of Contreras, and two after the 
commencement of the battle, all was ended on the heights and 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE FINAL CONaUEST. 163 

in the village of Contreras. The remnants of Valencia's corps, 
who had escaped death or captivity, had fled to the main army. 
The decisive movement which cut the enemy's line, and opened 
the road to Churubusco, was completed. The divisions of 
Twiggs and Pillow were now in full march through the village 
of San Angel towards the Bridge-head. 

From the village of Contreras to that of Churubusco is about 
five miles by the road which crosses from San Angel through 
Coyohacan, — the last village being about one mile from the 
fortified church. This distance it would take two or three 
hours for troops with artillery to pass over and be prepared 
for action. 

In the mean while, (as we have stated,) Worth's and Quit- 
man's divisions, which had moved towards Contreras to make 
a diversion in front, but which had not arrived when the battle 
was terminated, were countermarched to attack and carry An- 
tonia. That post, being now deprived of the support of Con- 
treras, could be turned ; and it was turned. While this was 
doing, however, the garrison of Antonia, perceiving that their 
position was now untenable, evacuated the post. In retreat- 
ing, they were met in flank by the advancing column of Clarke, 
and cut in two, the advanced portion moving upon Churubusco, 
and the remainder, about two thousand, under General Bravo, 
retreating east towards Dolores. • ,.,,^^^ 

Garland's brigade, advancing on the causeway^ sOon took 
possession of Antonia, with its defences, which made the 
second victory of the day. The brigades of Clarke and Gar- 
land were united about six hundred'yards beyond Antonia, and 
moved on simultaneously in hot pursuit of the enemy, towards 
Churubusco. <-^ 

The crisis of the day had now come. The enemy were 
united at the T^te du Pont and its neighborhood. Scott's 
army were now rapidly advancing on different roads to con- 
centrate in the final attack. The capital of the Mexican Re- 
public, the heart of the Spanish-Aztec empire, lay in full view, 
— to be defended on one side with all the streng-th of excited 
nationality, and assailed on the other with all the energy of the 
Anglo-American, — determined to conquer a peace by glorious 



/64 LIFE OP GENERAL SCOTT. 

victory! None in our camp doubted the issue. With the 
American soldier, to march is to fight, and to fight is to con- 
quer. The fortifications of Churubusco presented two points 
of strong defence, which must be carried by main force. 
The first was the T^te da Pont, (Bridge-head,) which was 
erected on the main causeway, in front of the bridge over 
Churubusco River, and consisted of two bastions with flanks. 
This was strongly garrisoned, and mounted with batteries. 

The second forfification was the Convent-Church, about five 
hundred yards to the west, and a little in advance of the river. 
Around this lay the hacienda, or hamlet. The defences were, 
on the outside, a covering of stone walls ; next to these a stone 
building or fortification with higher walls, and above all a stone 
church higher than either. The outside walls were pierced 
with two ranges of embrasures, and high enough to command 
the surrounding country, and fire plungingly upon those ap- 
proaching to the assault. The church and the hacienda were 
surrounded by this outside field-work. By passing along the 
causeway, the church and field-work would be left a little on 
the west side, and the troops would be first arrested by the 
Tete du Pont. This was the case with Worth's division. 

The retreat of the enemy from San Antonia, and the 
general march of all the American divisions soon after 8 
A. M., commenced the grand movement of the day. On the 
west, the divisions of Twiggs and Pillow were advancing on 
the cross-road from San Angel, by Coyohacan ; and on the 
causeway south the division of Worth was rapidly coming up 
to storm the Tete du Pont. The brigade of Quitman, consist- 
ing of the Pennsylvania Volunteers and U. S. Marines, were 
left in charge of the general depot at San Augustine. General 
Scott well remarked in his report, that this might have become 
the post of honor ; for it might have been suddenly attacked 
and its loss would have endangered the existence of the 
army. ' 

At 1 p. M. the different divisions of the army were united 
(not in line) in one circuit of attack ; those on the west pre- 
paring to attack the fortified church, and those from the south, 
under Worth, to attack the T^te da Pont. 



THREE BATTLES AT ONCE. 165 

In the mean while, the enemy were concentrated at the 
fortifications of Churubusco, and behind Churubusco River, 
in the same manner and for the same reasons as the American 
army were in front, the one to attack, and the other to defend. 
Correra, commander of Artillery, had arrived in the morning 
with six pieces of artillery, which were placed in battery on 
the road to Coyohacan, in a field-work surrounding the ha- 
cienda, at the commencement of the causeway leading to the 
western gate of the city. The retreating corps from San Angel, 
the brigade of Peres at Portalis, a part of the garrison of San 
Antonia, and, in fine, the residue of Santa Anna's army, were 
all concentrated in or behind Churubusco. 

General Scott had, in the mean while, placed himself at 
Coyohacan, where, just one mile from Churubusco, he made 
the arrangements of the day. On the 19th he was posted on 
an eminence in front of Contreras, whence he had given direc- 
tions for the storm of hill and batteries. Early this morning 
he had directed the forward movement of Worth on the Tete 
du Pont. Being without escort at Coyohacan, the General in- 
chief now advanced in the rear of Twiggs' division, as it id- 
vanced to the storm of the fortified church and convent. Tie 
attack on that post was made by the brigades of Smith and 
Riley (Twiggs' command) — less the Rifles, who were soon 
after sent to the support of Shields. That officer, with his 
own brigade, (New York and South Carolina Volunteers,) ani 
the brigade of Pierce, had been placed in command of the 
American left wing, which were advancing to attack the ene- 
my's right and rear, by a third road leading in that direc- 
tion. The object of this movement was to favor the move- 
ment on the convent, and cut off the enemy's retreat to the 
capital. 

In the morning two battles had been fought and won, at 
Contreras and Antonia. Now three battles were going on at 
once ! On the right of the American line, Worth, advancing 
on the causeway, was storming the Tf^te du Pont. In the 
middle ground, Twiggs was assaulting, amidst a tremendous 
fire, the church and convent ; and far to the left, and on the 
right and rear of the Mexicans, Shields was assailing their 



166 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

lines. When Scott reached the scene of action, the battle 
raged from the right to the left of our whole line. 

"The battle of the T^te du Pont was first decided. Two 
columns, under Garland and Clarke respectively, advanced to 
the front of the work under the fire of a long line of infantry, 
to the left of the bridge, and of several pieces of artillery in 
battery. Moving perpendicularly to the work, they suffered 
much ; but their coolness, energy, and determination overcame 
all difficulties. The T^te du Pont was assaulted and carried 
by the bayonet. Its deep and wet ditch was first gallantly 
"crossed by the 8th and 5th infantry, commanded by Major 
Waite and Lieutenant-colonel Scott. The storming parties 
entered the fort, and the enemy rapidly retreated on the road 
to Mexico. This was the third victory of the 20th of 
August ! 

About an hour before Worth had reached the Ttte du Pont, 
Twiggs had commenced the attack on the citadel of Churu- 
busco, consisting, as we have said, of the fortified church and 
hacienda. Here the battle raged more fiercely, and was more 
bloody and eventful. The walls of the church were pierced 
with loop-holes, and so arranged that two tiers of men fired at 
the same time. A field-work surrounded the church, and 
seven pieces of artillery inside were well manned and served. 
The position was, in all respects, a strong one, and it was de- 
fended by the best officers and bravest men in the Mexican 
service. It was at this point, in the middle of the afternoon of 
the 20th, that the storm of war, in the valley of Mexico, raged 
the fiercest. It was here that for three hours the hot elements 
of destruction rolled over the field ! The harsh voices of 
death were mingled with the roar of artillery, and crimson 
banners flamed over the battle. 

The veterans of Smith and Riley quailed not amidst the 
whirlwind of fire and the storm of balls which rolled from the 
well-directed guns of San Pablo in front, while far to the left, 
the gallant volunteers of Carolina and New York were rapidly 
filling their untimely, though glorious graves ! Here, the 
Mexican general, Rincon, ably defended his post. There, the 
masses of Santa Anna poured themselves on the division of 



FIVE VICTORIES IN ONE DAY. 167 

Shields ! A lurid canopy of sulphurous smoke rose over the 
heads of the combatants, and, far over the ancient plains of 
Mexico, rolled the roar of cannon and the crash of arms — 
that awful music which makes the song of battle the prelude 
of death, and the voice of angry nations. One might imagine 
the fierce spirit of Guatimozin hovering exultant over the plain, 
where the Celt and the Saxon, the enemies of his race, poured 
out in mortal conflict (as if in just retribution) their blood and 
their lives, over the graves of his fathers. 

It is remarkable that the most desperate defence was made 
at San Pablo, by a company of deserters from the American 
army, — more than a hundred in number, and commanded by 
Thomas Riley, a deserter from the 3d Infantry. They manned 
three pieces of artillery, and often tore down the white flag, 
when hoisted by the Mexicans ! They fought desperately, 
and, from their position, the firing was tremendous. 

In vain, however, was displayed all this fierceness, and in 
vain were the strong defences of Churubusco ! The fall of the 
THe du Pont enabled Captain Larkin Smith and Lieutenant 
Snelling, of the 8th Infantry, to seize upon a field-piece and 
fire from the flank upon the citadel. In just three hours from 
th§ commencement of the battle by Twiggs, the citadel (San 
Pablo) was entered, sword in hand, by two companies of the 
third Infantry, under Captains Alexander and J. M. Smith, 
with Lieutenant Shepler. Captain Alexander received the 
surrender, and hoisted on the balcony the flag of the 3d In- 
fantry. This was xhe fourth victory of the day ! 

Another battle yet raged ! Another victory was yet to be 
won ! We have seen the brigades of Shields and Pierce, 
with the gallant Rifles, advancing to the right of the Mexican 
line, and turning to the rear of the defences of Churubusco. 
There, behind the river of Churubusco, was the main army of 
Santa Anna. Four thousand infantry and three thousand 
cavalry there met our brave troops. Hotly and furiously the 
battle raged ! Regiment after regiment came up to the charge. 
There the chivalry of Carolina and the volunteers of New 
York were covered with glory and with blood ! There Pierce 
was taken fainting from the field ; the brave Butler fell ; and 



168 



LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



many a gallant soldier sunk to rise no more ! It was a mem- 
orable field. And victory again crowned the American arms, 
in this fflh battle of this illustrious day ! 

The enemy retreated rapidly from the scene of their defeat. 
The fugitives were pursued along the causeway and over the 
dead ; and it was not till the gates of Mexico were reached, 
that the impulsive Kearney reined in his horse.* 

Thus closed what may be historically termed the Battle 
OF THE Valley of Mexico, consisting, in fact, of five de- 
tached actions, each gallantly fought and triumphantly won ! 

The numerical forces engaged were in all about 9000 effec- 
tive American soldiers to 32,000 Mexicans ; the former com- 
manded, in chief, by General Scott, and the latter by General 
Santa Anna. The grand result was a complete forcing and 
capture of the exterior line of Mexican defences — of Con- 
treras, San Antonia, and Churubusco — opening the causeways 
to the city, and leaving it no resources but its gates and the 
Castle of Chapultepec. The loss on both sides was very 
greatjf but not more than seemed inevitable to the defence of 
a great city, in the heart of a great empire. The Spanish- 



* Orders had been dispatched to recall the dragoons, but they were 
not received in time ; and Captain Kearney, who had lost an arm, stopped 
only at the gates of Mexico. 

•j- The losses sustained by both armies in the battles of Mexico may be 
thus stated : 



American Loss. 

Killed 139 

Wounded 876 

Missing 38 



Total 1,053 



Mexican Loss. 

Killed .., 1,260 

Wounded 2,000 

Prisoners 2,600 

Missing 6,150 



Total 12,000 



The total above of Mexican loss is derived from the report of Santa 
Anna, who stated that he had only 18,000 remaining of 30,000 he had two 
days before 1 The great body of the missing were dispersed during and 
after the battle. Gen. Scott reports the total number of prisoners at 3000, 
of whom 205 were officers, and eight generals, — including Salas, Rincon, 
Mendoza, Garcia, Guadalupe, and others of note. 



PROPOSED ARMISTICE REJECTED. 169 

Aztecs had reigned here for near three hundred years, and the 
Lake of Tezcuco reflected back more than the splendors which 
had shone from the capital of the Montezumas ! Here was 
their battle-field ; and it could not be imagined that such a 
city, and such an empire, would be yielded without fierce con- 
flicts and bloody fields. 

Scott was now at Churubusco. The battle is over — the 
victory won — and he turns from the bloody field to rejoice with 
his soldiers in the success of their achievements and the glory 
of their country. He pours out his thanks to officers and men. 
The old soldiers seize his hands. There is silence ; and in 
" eloquent and patriotic words," he commends their gallant 
conduct. When he ceased, there arose a shout that might 
have been heard on the grand Plaza of Mexico. 

Thus passed the 20th of August in the valley of Mexico. 
It was unsurpassed in dramatic interest or national glory by 
any thing which had preceded it in American military history. 
The shades of evening gathered round the hamlet of Churu- 
busco, and all was still, as if no fierce tempest of bloody war 
had ever passed over that peaceful scene ! The bugle sounded 
the last call. The wearied soldier sank to rest. The moon 
and the stars kept watch over the bodies of the slain. Passed 
were the thunders of artillery, and quenched their fires, as is 
the roar and flarne of that silent volcano, which now rears its 
snow-crowned summit on the distant horizon ! 

The next morning (the 21st) General Scott, on his way to 
Coyohacan, was met by propositions for an armistice. He 
rejected them, the time asked being not agreed to. He in- 
formed the commissioners that he should sleep at Tacubaya. 
They told him if he would delay his march, they would direct 
the fortress of Chapultepec not to fire on him. But he did not 
delay his march. He entered Tacubaya, attended by the 
dragoons alone, and that night occupied the Archiepiscopal 
palace of Mexico. He might have entered the Plaza of Mexico 
by storm, but did not. He chose rather to cultivate the milder 
graces of humanity, than to seize, at the expense of new blood, 
new laurels in Mexico. The voice of Peace whispered " For- 
bearance" in his ear, and he answered, in the spirit of Christian 



170 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

magnanimity, " Too much blood has been already shed in this 
unnatural war." No laurel he has won in war, no renown 
which is chanted by the voice of victory, will, in the estima- 
tion of posterity, be greener or more worthy, than that which 
he has won by a continual deference to the claims of peace and 
humanity. 

The views of General Scott, in reference to the effort he 
should make for peace, are contained in the following extract 
from his Report of the 28th of August : 

" After so many victories, we might, with but little additional 
loss, have occupied the capital the same evening. But Mr. 
Trist, commissioner, &c., as well as myself, had been ad- 
monished by the best friends of peace — intelligent neutrals 
and some American residents — against precipitation ; lest, by 
wantonly driving away the government and others, dishonored, 
we might scatter the elements of peace, excite a spirit of 
national desperation, and thus indefinitely postpone the hope 
of accommodation. Deeply impressed with this danger, and 
remembering our mission — to conquer a peace — the army very 
cheerfully sacrificed to patriotism, to the great wish and want 
of our country, the eclat that would have followed an entrance, 
sword in hand, into a great capital. Willing to leave some- 
thing to this republic — of no immediate value to us — on which 
to rest her pride, and to recover temper, I halted our victorious 
corps at the gates of the city, (at least for a time,) and have 
them now cantoned in the neighboring villages, where they are 
well sheltered and supplied with all necessaries." 



BATTLES AND ENTRANCE INTO THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

At 12 meridian of the 7th of September, 1847, the armis- 
tice, or military convention, between the -armies of Mexico 
and the United States, terminated, by the terms of General 
Scott's note to Santa Anna. 

The exterior line of defences had now been either turned 




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172 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

or forced. Scott and his troops were on one of the main 
causeways, and in full sight of the city. It was yet defended, 
however, by its garitas, or fortified gates and posts, and by the 
formidable castle of Chapultepec. Tacubaya, the head-quar- 
ters of Scott, was, at the nearest point, about twelve hundred 
yards [point-hlanc range for twelve-pounders) from the fortified 
hill of Chapultepec. The city of Mexico is two and a half 
miles off. At the foot of Chapultepec, and on the east side, 
tho Tacubaya causeway branches into two ; one eastwardly to 
the Belen gate, and one northwardly to the San Cosmo gate. 
At the village of Tacubaya, another road led to the Piedad 
causeway ; also leading to the Belen gate. The farthest point 
of either of these three roads (the Piedad causeway) was only 
2500 yards ; while the whole of the Tacubaya causeways to 
the Belen and San Cosmo gates was under the fire of the 
castle. The city itself was within reach of bombardment 
from heavy mortars. This view of the topography and locali- 
ties around Chapultepec will inform the reader why it was 
necessary to the military possession of Mexico, that Chapulte- 
pec should be taken. 

El Molino del Rey is just at the foot of this hill-slope, ad- 
joins the grove of trees, and is a stone building of thick and 
high walls, with towers at the end. This was strongly garri- 
soned, and made a sort of depot, and was supposed to have 
been used as a foundry recently, though really built for mills, 
and called " the King's Mill." 

Casa de Mata is another massive, thick-walled stone build- 
ing, standing about four hundred yards to the west of Molino 
del Rey, and in a straight line with that and the castle of Cha- 
pultepec. It is also at the foot of a gentle declivity or ridge, 
descending from the village of Tacubaya. 

The assault on Molino del Rey was intrusted to General 
Worth, one of the most gallant officers of the army. He was 
ordered to carry the enemy's lines, capture their artillery, de- 
stroy their machinery, and then return to Tacubaya ; the army 
being not prepared to make the final attack on Chapultepec, if 
that attack should prove to be inevitable. The actual number, 
strength, and batteries of the enemy were unknown before the 



THE CITY OF MEXICO IN SIGHT. 173 

attack, and proved in the end to be greater than was antici- 
pated. 

Nearly one-fourth of Worth's whole corps were eithe;: killed 
or wounded ! The Mexican loss was equally great. Leon, 
Balderos, Hiierto, Mateos, and others of their best officers, 
were killed ; while fifty-two commissioned officers and eight 
hundred men remained prisoners in the American hands. 
General Worth immediately blew up Gasa de Ilafa, destroyed 
the machinery and materiel in the mill, and carried off large 
quantities of arms and ammwnition. These were the objects 
of the battle — to cut off these resources from the defence of 
Mexico. When this was accomplished, the ruins were evacu- 
ated, and the army withdrew to Tacubaya, 

The city of Mexico now lay under the eye of General 
Scott, with none but its own peculiar defences — the Military 
College, on Chapultepec hill, being one. 

" The city of Mexico stands on a slight swell of ground, 
near the centre of an irregular basin, and is girdled with a 
ditch in its greater extent — a navigable canal of great breadth 
and depth — very difficult to bridge in the presence of an ene- 
my, and serving at once for drainage, custom-house purposes, 
and military defence ; leaving eight entrances or gates, over 
arches, each of which we found defended by a system of strong 
works, that seemed to require nothing but some men and guns 
to be impregnable." 

The approaches to the city are over elevated causeways, 
flanked by ditches. The roads and bridges were in many 
places broken by the enemy, to prevent the approaches of our 
armv. It had now got to be the wet season, and the inter- 
vening meadows were in many places covered with water, or 
covered with marshes. After a personal survey of the whole 
ground, General Scott deemed the approaches by Chapultepec 
less difficult, and determined to adopt that route. 

The first thing to be done was to carry Chapultepec. This 
hill we have already described. A steep, rocky height, rising 
one hundred and fifty feet above the surrounding grounds, it 
was defended by a strong castle of thick stone walls. The 
whole fortress is nine hundred feet in length, and the terre 



174 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

joZem and main buildings six hundred feet. The following 
description is by an officer of the army. 

" The castle is about ten feet high, and the whole structure, 
including the wings, bastions, parapets, redoubts, and batteries, 
is very strongly built, and of the most splendid architecture. 
A splendid dome decorates the top, rising in great majesty 
about twenty feet above the whole truly grand and magnificent 
pile, and near which is the front centre, supported by a stone 
arch, upon which is painted the coat-of-arms of the republic, 
where once floated the tri-colored banner, but is now decorated 
by the glorious stars and stripes of our own happy land. Two very 
strongly built stone walls surround the whole ; and at the west 
end, where we stormed the works, the outer walls are some 
ten feet apart, and twelve or fifteen feet high, over which we 
charged by the help of fascines. It was defended by heavy 
artillery, manned by the most learned and skilful gunners of 
their army, including some French artillerists of distinction. 
The infantry force consisted of the officers and students of the 
institution, and the national guards, and chosen men of war of 
the republic — the whole under the command of General Bravo, 
whom we made prisoner. The whole hill is spotted with 
forts and outposts, and stone and mud walls, which were filled 
with their picket or castle guard. A huge, high stone wall 
extends around the whole frowning craggy mount, and another 
along the southeast base, midway from the former and the 
castle. A well-paved road leads up in a triangular form to 
the main gate, entering the south terre-jylein ; and the whole 
works are ingeniously and beautifully ornamented with Span- 
ish fastidiousness and skill." 

On the 13th, all arrangements were made for the assault. 
The signal for the attack was given at a momentary cessa- 
tion of fire, on the part of our batteries. This was at 8 a. m. 
of the 13th, when the divisions of Pillow and Quitman moved 
forward ; while our batteries, when they had opportunity, threw 
shot and shells over the heads of our men, to deter the enemy 
from reinforcing the castle. While this was going on, the 
Reserve, under Worth, was to turn Chapultepec, and, gaining 
the north side, either assist in the attack, or cut off the enemy's 
retreat. 



CArTURE OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 175 

After a desperate struggle, Chapultepec is taken. Here 
were the true Halls of the Montezumas — those halls which 
had so allured the adventurous soldier. Here Montezuma 
himself had retired from the cares of business, and the heat 
of the city, to enjoy the ease of retirement. Here the luxuri- 
ous Viceroys of Spain had erected their regal palaces ; and here 
was now the National Military School, placed amidst the re- 
mains of gardens, and the ruins of palaces, once occupied by 
the royal race of the Aztecs. Fallen now are the monuments 
of the Aztecs ; fallen, too, their Spanish conquerors ; and 
fallen, also, the mixed descendants of both, who had here 
planted the standard of independence. The Anglo-American 
replaces both with the arms of a superior skill and a greater 
strength. It was a triumph of civilization, as-well as a victory 
to military genius, when Scott's victorious troops shouted their 
conquest from the battlements of Chapultepec ! 

Scott had arrived on the walls of the castle just«as it had 
been carried, and, with a rapid coup d'osil, surveyed the city, 
the fields, and the causeways before him. He immediately 
determined to enter the city with Worth's corps, by the San 
Cosmo gate, leaving Quitman's division to make a feint by the 
Belen gate. Both attacks, however, proved real. 

Night soon gathered round the .valley of Mexico. The 
army of Santa Anna, which in the morning had displayed its 
brilliant uniforms, poured its deadly fire from the battlements 
of Chapultepec, defended the causeways, and fought at San 
Cosmo and Belen, had now disappeared ! The flag of the 
Union, with its stars in azure, and its bars of crimson, floated 
gracefully from the walls of the castle and the garitas of the 
city. The sentinels are set. The weary soldiers have sunk 
to rest, as if no battle had ever been fought — no dangers ever 
incurred ! The stars shine above ; but, alas for the dead ! the 
famished dogs of the city are seen to prowl out, and seize upon 
their cold bodies — the once-loved bodies of those for whom 
mothers, sisters, wives, will wait and long for in vain ! 

In the midst of the night, Santa Anna, with the small re- 
mains of his army — about two thousand in number — marched 
out by a northwestern gate, and Mexico was left at the mercy 



176 LIFE OF GENERAD SCOTT. 

of our army. At 4 a. m. (about daylight) of the 14th, a depu- 
tation of the Ayuntamiento (city council) waited upon General 
Scott, to inform him that the army and federal government had 
fled, and to demand terms of capitulation for the church, the 
citizens, and the municipal authorities. He promptly replied 
that he would sign no capitulation, for the city was virtually 
in possession of the divisions of Quitman and Worth the day 
before. 

It was just 9 o'clock in the morning when he made his way 
to the National Palace. " A tremendous hurrah broke from 
the corner of the plaza, and in a few minutes were seen the 
towering plumes and commanding form of our gallant old hero, 
General Scott, escorted by the 2d Dragoons. The heartfelt 
welcome that came from our little band was such as Monte- 
zuma's halls had never heard, and must have deeply affected 
the general. Well they might, for of the ten thousand gallant 
spirits that welcomed him at Puebla, scarcely seven thousand 
were left. The bloody fields of Contreras, Churuhusco, San 
Antonia, El Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and the Garita had 
laid low three thousand of our gallant army, and filled with 
grief and sorrow the hearts of all the rest. 

Wherever Scott moved among the soldiers, he addressed 
them with warm affection, participating both in their joys and 
their sorrows. The campaign held been one of hardship and 
loss. Glorious were its victories, but bloody its battle-fields ! 
He remembered this, and sympathized with the soldier. His 
short but emphatic addresses had a profound effect on the men. 
As he passed a portion of the Rifle Regiment, he returned 
their salute, saying with energy and emphasis — " Brave Rijles ! 
Veterans ! You have been baptized in fire and blood, and have 
come out steel /" The unbidden tear stole to the eyes of those 
rough but gallant spirits, whose hearts knew no fear, and who 
had never yet, in their long trial, faltered or fallen back, while 
their flashing eyes and upright forms declared its truth. " Had 
you seen this," said one who was present, " you would have 
felt, with me, that such words as those wiped out long months 
of hardship and suffering !" 

The following tables represent the losses of the American 
and Mexican armies respectively : 



178 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 



LOSSES OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. 

Killed. Wounded. 

137 S11 



August 19, 20. ) 

Battles of Contreras, Antonia, and Churubusco ... ) 



September 8. 

^ '116 665 



Battle of Molino del Rey \ 

September 12, 13, 14. 
Chapultepec, and Gates of Belen and San Cosmo. 
Missing, (probably killed) 85 



j- 130 703 



Total Losses 468 2,246 

Aggregate 2,713 

Army marching from Puebla 10,738 

Deduct Losses 2,713 

Remaining 8,025 

Deduct sick and garrison of Chapultepec 2,000 

Effective men in Mexico 6,025 

LOSSES OF THE MEXICAN ARMY. 

Killed and wounded 7,000 

Prisoners 3,730 

Total hors du combat 10,730 

AmonfT the officers killed or taken were thirteen generals, 
of whom three had been presidents of the republic. 

The entire force of the Mexican army in the field in the 
valley of Mexico was more than thirty thousand men ! Of 
this army, not more than three or four thousand were now 
together ; and these so dispirited, that in a few days after- 
wards they were entirely disbanded. Santa Anna appeared a 
few days before Puebla, and undertook the siege of Col. 
Childs' intrenchments. The attempt, however, was abortive ; 
and in a short time his men deserted him, and he was left with 
scarcely a guard of cavalry. Thus ended the active part of 
the war in Mexico. Scott's march into the Grand Plaza of 
Mexico proved in reality the " conquest of peace." 



A BRIEF REVIEW. 179 



RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN. 

The immediate trophies and victories of the campaign, how- 
ever brilliant and admirable, were less important than the ulti- 
mate results to this country and the world. The cgimpaign of 
Scott in Mexico conquered ])eace. It did more. It restored 
good feelings to both countries, and gave order and confidence 
to vanquished Mexico. It added to our own country the im- 
mense territories of California, Utah, and New Mexico. It 
opened a new and vast field to American enterprise. It has 
developed the marvellous gold mines of the Sierra Nevada, 
whose overflowing wealth pours into all the channels of com- 
merce, and quickens the energies of industry. It has given 
us a coast and ports on the Pacific, whence we look out on 
the islands of the sea, and can hold intercourse with the na- 
tions of Asia. A new era opens on the hills and valleys of our 
Western wilderness. Soon, a wilderness no longer, they will 
bloom with the roseate hues of civilization, and be filled with 
a people breathing the air of liberty, and diftusing light through 
the regions of darkness ! 

• Such were the direct results of Scott's campaign — victory, 
peace, and empire. 

One thing only we note beyond the even course of this nar- 
rative. In all the arrangements, all the contests — in all the 
wide field of action we have described, there was no failure. 
Even accidents, such as often mar the happiest plans, seemed 
here to have forgotten their customary office. The army was, 
indeed, long cut ofl" from its communications ; it was delayed 
at Puebla for want of reinforcements ; it was delayed by the 
first negotiations ; but still it marched on — still victory attend- 
ed its banners, and all things conspired to give it a glorious 
fortune. 

Scott demonstrated in this campaign that his genius was 
equal to divising the best of plans ; his administrative talent 
adapted to securing the best means ; and his energy in action 
capable of carrying his designs into execution, and giving 



180 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

complete success to every enterprise. He left nothing undone 
which it was his duty to accomplish; and has left nothing for 
history to record but a series of illustrious triumphs, achieved 
without a single failure — without a single act of inhumanity — 
without a single shade of any kind upon his fair renown. 
Such success is rare in any nation, and in any pursuit. It can 
only be attributed to some remarkable gifts of mind, as well as 
to an extraordinary measure of Providential favor. 

It was in reference to this triumphant march from Vera 
Cruz to Mexico, that General Cass, in the United States Sen- 
ate, pronounced the following eloquent and beautiful tribute : 

" The movement of our army from Puebia was one of the 
most romantic and remarkable events which ever occurred in 
the military annals of our country. 

" Our troops did not, indeed, burn their fleet, like the first 
conquerors of Mexico ; for they needed not to gather courage 
from despair, nor to stimulate their resolution by destroying all 
hopes of escape. But they voluntarily cut off all means of 
communication with their own country, by throwing themselves 
among the armed thousands of another, and advancing with 
stout hearts, but feeble numbers, into the midst of a hostile 
territory. The uncertainty whicb came over the public mind, 
and the anxiety everywhere felt, when our gallant little arnfy 
disappeared from our view, will not be forgotten during the 
present generation. There was a universal pause of expecta- 
tion — hoping, but still fearing ; and the eyes of twenty mil- 
lions of people were anxiously fixed upon another country, 
which a little band of its armed citizens had invaded. A veil 
concealed them from our view. They were lost to us for fifty 
days ; for that period elapsed from the time when we heard of 
their departure from Puebia, till accounts reached us of the 
issue of the movement. The shroud which enveloped them 
then gave way, and we discovered our glorious flag waving in 
the breezes of the capital, and the city itself invested by our 
army." 

Scott's conquest of Mexico bears a strong resemblance, also, 
to Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, but was unlike it both in 
conduct and results. Napoleon left France at the head x)f 



SCOTT COMPARED TO NAPOLEON. 181 

forty thousand men, crossed the seas in ships, was cut ofi by 
the destruction of his navy in Aboukir Bay, entered the ancient 
cities of Egypt, and conquered on the shores of the Nile. At 
length, tired of battle in Egypt, he left his army to his subor- 
dinates, and returned, like Caesar, to become the Dictator of 
France. No love of peace adorned his character ; no gentle 
humanity graced his conduct ; no strong devotion to liberty 
restrained his ambition, or made him obedient to the claims of 
duty or of law. His generals, left to pursue a various for- 
tune, were at length driven from the land which they came to 
conquer. 

Scott also embarked in ships ; was cut off from his depots 
of supplies ; was engaged against an enemy better acquainted 
with the art of war than the Egyptians ; but pursued his even 
way, victorious in battle, yet using every effort to procure peace 
and to soften the asperities of war. No cruelties are per- 
mitted — no wanton insults given. He returns not till the con- 
quest is achieved, and his part fully performed in all that grand 
drama of action. 

Such was the second conquest of Mexico by Winfield Scott. 
Is there one who delights in the sound of glorious victory, 
and will not say that his victories were complete, and his 
action honorable ? Is there one whose heart is pained with 
every sound of war, and will not say that he performed the 
painful duties of war with the strictest regard to the claims 
of humanity, and with the utmost solicitude for the return of 
peace ? 



RETURN HOME. HIS RECEPTION AND HONORS. 

ScoTT, On his return from Mexico, had respectfully declined 
the honor of a reception at New Orleans, stating that he was 
under the displeasure of the executive. 

On the lOih of May, 1848, Mr. Havemeyer, Mayor of New 
York, addressed a message to the Common Council, stating 



182 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT, 

that information had been received that Major-General Scott 
had embarked on his return home, and he submitted the pro- 
priety of " receiving him in a manner commensurate with a 
proper appreciation of his gallant achievements, and those of 
his companions in arms." On the reception of this message, 
resolutions in conformity therewith were, on motion of Mr. 
Crolius, passed by the Board of Aldermen, and concurred in 
by the Assistants. 

On the 21st of May, General Scott arrived in the brig 
" Petersburg," and immediately proceeded to Elizabethtown. 
The next day (22d) he was waited upon by a committee of the 
Common Council of New York, and accepted their invitation 
to visit and receive the hospitalities of New York. 

Thursday, the 25lh of May, was the day appointed for the 
reception. The general was to be escorted from Elizabeth- 
town by the committee, the Common Council, and the civic 
authorities. He was to review the New York division of 
troops, in four brigades ; be addressed at the City Hall by 
public functionaries ; and finally escorted to his quarters. In 
conformity with this plan, all arrangements were made by the 
military and civil authorities. 

The day was an auspicious one. A cloudless sky, a bril- 
liant sun, and streets lined and crowded with dense masses of 
people eager to behold and receive the gallant and successful 
hero returning from the scene of his glory, seemed an auspi- 
cious augury of the welcome which would now greet him, 
and the fame which coming posterity will gladly bestow. 
Cannon were fired from the Battery, the national flag floated 
from the City Hall, and streamers waved from the shipping in 
port. The steamer St. Nicholas, crowded with public func- 
tionaries and citizens, proceeded gayly on her way to Eliza- 
bethtown. There they were met by the corporate authorities 
of the borough, who, by their mayor, Mr. Sanderson, com- 
mitted General Scott, with suitable remarks, to the charge of 
the Common Council of New York. 

When the cheering had subsided, Morris Franklin, Esq., 
president of the Board of Aldermen, addressed General Scott 
in an excellent address, of which the following are passages : 



RECEPTION IN NEW YORK. 183 

" In contemplating upon the thrilling events which have 
characterized your history, we find so much to excite our ad- 
miration, and to call into action the patriotic emotions of the 
heart, that we feel proud, as American citizens, that among 
the many illustrious names which now are, or may hereafter 
be emblazoned upon the escutcheons of our country, yours 
will appear in bold relief, as among her noblest and most 
honored sons ; for whether upon the plains of Chippewa, or 
Lundy's Lane — whether at the sortie of Fort Erie, or on the 
heights of Queenstown — whether landing on the shores of 
Vera Cruz, or bravely contending at the pass of Cerro Gordo — 
whether entering in triumph the capital of Mexico, and there 
planting the American standard upon its battlements — whether 
in the warrior's tent, at the solemn hour of midnight, arranging 
the operations of the coming day, while your faithful soldiers 
were slumbering around you, dreaming of their friends and 
their homes — or whether attending upon the wounded, the 
dying, and the dead, regardless of yourself in your anxiety 
for others — we find all those characteristics which mark the 
true dignity of man, and bespeak the accomplished and victo- 
rious chieftam. 

" Under circumstances such as these, and fresh from the 
well-fought battle-fields of our country, we now welcome you 
within our midst, as one worthy to receive and forever wear 
that victorious wreath which the American people have en- 
twined to decorate and adorn your brow ; and we cannot omit, 
upon this occasion, to bear our testimony to the valor, bravery, 
and skill displayed by that noble band of our adopted fellow- 
citizens, who, side by side with the natives of our soil, stood 
bravely by the common standard of our country, or fell nobly 
struggling in its defence. Peace be to the ashes of those who 
thus sacrificed their lives, for they died as brave men love to 
die — fighting the battles of their country, and expiring in the 
very arms of victory." 

Mr. Franklin's address was received with enthusiastic 
huzzas. 

General Scott made the following reply, which, with the 
others made in New York, are inserted here, for the purpose 



184 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

of showing the character of his addresses when drawn from 
him on public occasions, and the sentiments he felt and uttered, 
in reference to the acts and conduct of the army. 

After stating that he had " surrendered himself a prisoner" 
to his fellow-citizens of New York, w^ho had determined to 
honor a public servant, and, without measuring his little merit, 
had also determined to do it " in a manner worthy of herself 
and of the United States," he proceeded : 

" If I had looked to considerations merely personal, I should 
have declined the high distinction tendered me ; but I knew I 
was to be received by you as the representative of that victo- 
rious army it was so lately my good fortune to command — an 
army that has carried the glory of American arms to a height 
that has won universal admiration, and the gratitude of all 
hearts at home. 

'• A very large portion of the rank and file of that army, 
regulars and volunteers, went forth from the city of New York, 
to conquer or to die. It was my happy lot to witness their 
invincible valor and prowess. All dangers, difficulties, and 
hardships were met and conquered. ^ 

" You have been pleased, sir, to allude to our adopted citi- 
zens. I can say that the Irish, the Germans, the Swiss, the 
French, the Britons, and other adopted citizens, fought in the 
same ranks, under the same colors, side by side with native- 
born Americans — exhibiting like courage and efficiency, and 
uniting at every victory in the same enthusiastic shouts in 
honor of our flag and country. From Vera Cruz to the capital 
of Mexico, there was one generous rivalry in heroic daring 
and brilliant achievement. Let those who witnessed that career 
of valor and patriotism say, if they can, what race, according 
to numbers, contributed most to the general success and glory 
of the campaign. On the many hard-fought battle-fields there 
was no room for invidious distinction. All proved themselves 
the faithful sons of our beloved country, and no spectator 
could fail to dismiss any lingering prejudice he might have 
entertained as to the comparative merits of Americans by 
birth and Americans by adoption. 

" As the honored representative of all, I return among you 



HIS REPLY TO MR. FRAN KLIN 's ADDRESS. 185 

to bear* testimony in favor of my fellow-brothers in the field, 
the army of Mexico ; and I congratulate you and them that 
the common object of their efforts, and of your hopes — the 
restoration of peace — is in all probability now attained." 

As the boat passed on from Elizabethtown to the city, large 
numbers of people on the shore saluted the company, with their 
distinguished companion, by waving handkerchiefs. At Sail- 
ors' Snug Harbor they received the united cheers of its in- 
mates ; and at Castle Garden, the general landed under a 
national salute, fired by the 4ih Artillery, under the direction 
of General Morris. 

The mayor of the city being absent, Morris Franklin, Acting 
Mayor, again addressed General Scott. After congratulating 
him on his return to his home and friends, he said : 

" And now, fellow-citizens, you have before you the hero 
of Chippewa, of Queenstown, of Lundy's Lane, and the con- 
queror of Vera Cruz and the capital of Mexico, and it remains 
for you to say whether you will receive and welcome him as 
the guest of our patriotic and noble city ; and for the purpose 
of testing this, I propose that all who are in favor of receiving 
him as such, will signify by saying aye." 

One universal aye burst from the immense assemblage ; after 
which, Mr. Franklin, turning to the general, continued as fol- 
lows : ^ 

*• General Scott — You are now the guest of the city. 
You have surrendered to the entreaties of your fellow-citizens, 
and we shall celebrate the victory in such a way as will satisfy 
you and them, that we appreciate the services of one of the best 
and noblest sons connected with the great American family." 

On reaching the Governor's Room, at the City Hall, he was 
again addressed briefly by Alderman Crolius, to whom he 
replied in the following terms : 

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Common Council 
— My obligations to the city of New York are knowr^to you 
all ; but the kind reception of the Common Council, and of the 
inhabitants of this great emporium of commerce, has bound 
me to it forever. Had my life been twice as long — had my 
services been treble what they have been — had my sufferings 



186 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

been multiplied, no matter by what figure — all would ha^e been 
more than compensated by the generous welcome you have 
given me." 

He then said, that *' since the termination of the war with 
Great Britain, now thirty-four years, I have resided a portion 
of every year, with the exception of four or five, with you. 
The first honors I ever received w^ere from the hands of the 
Legislature of New York. Well, then, may it be believed 
that every pulsation of my heart beats in unison with her well- 
being." 

General Scott then proceeded to give his views on the great 
subject of Peace and War, in which every friend of civiliza- 
tion is interested : 

" Though I am a soldier, and therefore supposed to be fond 
of fighting, I abhor war, except when prosecuted in the defence 
of our country, or for the preservation of its honor, or of some 
great, important, nay, cardinal interest. I hoH war to be a 
great moral evil. It must be for good and substantial reasons 
— for no forced or false pretext, however plausibly set forth — 
that war can be warrantably waged, or that can justify one 
man in shedding the blood of his fellow-being. The interests 
of New York, and of our whole country, are identified with 
peace and with every duty of Christian morality. I doubt if 
there be any member of that respectable body of our fellow- 
citizens, the Friends, who is a more zealous advocate for peace. 
Unhappily, too much of my life has been spent on the field of 
battle. Let us, then, maintain our peace by all honorable 
efforts — by such efforts as Washington, the father of our 
country, made, to establish and preserve a system of equal and 
impartial neutrality — a system which some of his most distin- 
guished successors, even to a recent period, have commended, 
with the entire approbation of the American people. And now, 
Mr. Chairman, in offering again my thanks to your Common 
Council, and to the inhabitants of your city, which have made 
an old soldier's heart to throb with gratitude, and caused him 
to forget all his toils, all his hardships, all his suffering of mind 
and body, I desire to acknowledge to yourself especially, and 
to the gentlemen of both Boards who compose your committee, 



THE soldier's WELCOxME HOME. 187 

the obligations you have imposed upon me by your kind and 
gracious attentions. Thanks, my warmest thanks, I return 
through you to the inhabitants of this city." 

On the evening of the day of reception, the following song, 
written by George P. Morris, Esq., was sung at the Broad- 
way Tabernacle, It expresses well the warm feelings which 
animate the great body of the people towards the Patriot 
Hero, who, in the forty years from 1811 to 1851, has served his 
country with so much merit, and with such unrivalled success. 



THE soldier's WELCOME HOME. 



Victorious the hero 

Returns from the •wars ; 
His brow bound with laurels 

That never will fade, 
"While streams the free standard 

Of stripes and of stars, 
Whose field in the battle 

The foemen dismayed. 
"When the Mexican hosts 

In theii- madness came on, 
Like a tower of strength 

In his might he arose I 
"Where danger most threatened, 

His banner was borne, 
\Va%'ing hope to his friends 

And despair to his foes. 

Chorus. 

Huzza ! huzza ! huzza ! 

The hero forever ! 
Whose fame is the glory 

And pride of the land I 

n. 

The Soldier of Honor 

And Liberty, hail ! 
His deeds in the temple 

Of Fame are enrolled : 



188 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

His precepts, like flower-seeds 

Sown by the gale, 
Take root in the hearts 

Of the valiant and bold. 
Tlie warrior's escutcheon 

His foes seek to blot : 
But vain are the efforts 

Of partisan bands, 
For freemen will render 

Full justice to Scott, 
And welcome him home 

"With their hearts in their hands. 

Chorus. 

Huzza ! huzza ! huzza ! 

The hero forever ! 
Whose fame is the glory 

And pride of the land ! 



CHARACTER OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

In reviewing this record of more than forty years' public 
service, we find that Scott has been engaged in three wars, 
has been victorious in ten battles, has three times interfered 
to PRESERVE PEACE, and has written several volumes on mili- 
tary institutes, temperance, and various topics of public interest. 
For this long series of memorable services he has acquired a 
renown limited only by the bounds of the civilized world. In 
his own country, the National Congress, the Legislatures of 
States, the corporations of cities, and literary and scientific 
bodies, have repeatedly bestowed upon him their honors and 
their applause. Congress voted him a medal ; the State of 
Virginia twice voted him swords ; New York voted him a 
sword ; the Society of Cincinnati made him an honorary 
member ; and in various forms, and on numerous occasions, 
have the people hastened to do honor to one whose life has 
been devoted to their cause. He has been nominated for the 



HIS CHARACTER. 189 

V 

presidency repeatedly, by State and county conventions, but 
has never pressed himself on the consideration of political 
bodies. On the contrary, he has shunned all the intrigues of 
mere politicians, and left his character and conduct to the 
unbiased judgment of the people. While he thought himself, 
as a man and a citizen, entitled to hold and express his political 
opinions on all proper occasions, he thought his military posi- 
tion precluded him from entering into any active controversies 
of parties. His opinions have been frankly expressed on almost 
all topics ; never concealed from any fear of consequences, 
nor volunteered to gain mere political support. 

The fame of General Scott abroad is founded on a more 
disinterested, and perhaps a more solid basis, than that in his 
ovv^n country. It is founded on a calm view and intelligent 
understanding of the great actions in which he has been en- 
gaged, and the particular merits of character which have con- 
* tributed to his success. Kosciusko early wrote him a compli- 
mentary letter, and the most competent judges in Europe held 
him in high estimation ; but it is only since the Mexican war 
that his European reputation has been brought out in bold relief. 
Now it is as wide as the circle^of intelligence, and durable as 
the records of history. 

In the character of Scott are mingled some elements, gen- 
erally supposed to be very opposite in their qualities, and yet 
have been completely harmonized in him. He is ardent, and 
yet calculating ; energetic, and yet mild ; stern in discipline, 
yet humane ; a warrior, and yet the friend of peace ; authori- 
tative, and yet obedient. In every thing we find the stern, 
strong, and vigorous elements of character restrained and 
modified by mild and amiable dispositions. 

It is this mixture of the natural elements which has made 
him so eminently successful, and taken from him all which 
often renders the mere soldier harsh, sanguinary, and repul- 
sive. Ardent for distinction, emulous in the career of glory 
he certainly was, but without the least taste for the sufferings 
and cruelties of wai:. On the contrary, all his tastes are re- 
fined, and all his impulses generous. War under his com- 
mand became an element of civilization. The campaign in 



190 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 

Mexico is one of the finest illustrations of how far and how 
great have been the advances of humanity, where humanity is 
supposed least to exist. Let any one compare the conduct of 
the British armies in the American Revolution, the conduct of 
the French in Spain, of the Russians in Germany, or the 
Austrians in Hungary, with that of the American army under 
Scott, in the valley of Mexico. The difference is most strik- 
ing. From the commencement, Scott protected, with the same 
care as he would have done in the United States, the persons, 
property, religion, houses, and business of Mexican citizens. 
No outrage, and no encroachment of any sort, was made on 
the rights of the citizens. Entering the city after the most 
bloody battles and the most obstinate resistance, it was accord- 
ing to the usages of war that a very heavy contribution should 
be exacted from the city ; yet what he really demanded was 
a mere trifle. And to whom did that go ? Was it divided as 
plunder among officers and men ? Not a dollar. It was ap- 
propriated first to the comfort of the sick and wounded, and 
then to found an asylum for invalids ! In every step of his 
progress, the American commander seems to have thought his 
office was as much that of a^, priest off'ering sacrifices on the 
altar of humanity, as that of a soldier winning laurels in the 
field. So was his energy and ardor tempered by humanity. 

He was " authoritative, and yet obedient." This, too, is, in 
the measure possessed by him, an unusual mixture. It is diffi- 
cult to find eminent military commanders, used to the " habit 
of command," who have not become arbitrary ; and it is diffi- 
cult to find one who has become arbitrary, who is ready to 
yield a cheerful and willing obedience to others in authority. 
Yet has Scott manifested this quality in all cases, and under 
trying circumstances. When, after years of argument, in re- 
lation to brevet rank, and when he firmly believed himself 
right, the President decided against him, he still remained in 
the army, and took the position assigned him, at the expense 
of injured feelings. When, at the end of a series of unex- 
ampled victories, he received the unexpected and extraor- 
dinary degradation of being summoned to answer his inferiors 
before a court of inquiry, he silently delivered up hie com- 



HISTORY WILL DO HIM HONOR. 191 

•' 

mand, and appeared to answer at the tribunal the President 
had chosen to constitute. Indeed, through forty years of ser- 
vice, he never once came into collision with any of the civil 
authorities, or transgressed in any way the laws of his country. 
Of how many other military commanders can that be said ? 

When we closed our first account of the life of General 
Scott, we left him in the midst of peaceful occupations. The 
army was on the peaceful establishment. There was little 
for him to do, except to read the reports of subordinates, and 
devise schemes for the improvement of his soldiers. It was 
only two years after that the war with Mexico broke out, and 
added a new series of events to his already remarkable career. 
He then wore greenly and freshly the laurels acquired at 
Queenstown, at Chippewa, and Niagara. He was remem- 
bered as one who had brought peace to the Maine frontier, 
had quieted the border troubles with Canada, had made the 
removal of the Cherokees seem an act of humanity, who had 
nursed the sick in hospitals, and had now become a veteran in 
service. But the second conquest of Mexico comes to add 
other laurels to those which cluster round the brows of the 
hero of Niagara. If the victories of Taylor on the Rio Grande 
surprised and delighted this country, those from the castle of 
San Juan to the city of Mexico astonished the world. Europe 
marvels at the result, and America has scarcely waked from 
what seems the dream of victory and the illusions of con- 
quest. Time is required to do justice to the actors in these 
events — to separate the evil from the good — the dross from 
the gold — the vain from the real. Then, when history assumes 
the office of judgment, and a calm philosophy governs the in- 
tellect, men and events will take their proper place, and a 
righteous spirit direct the verdict of posterity. 



APPENDIX. 



"We append the^ following correspondence, as forming a part of the 
record of what transpired immediately on the return of General Scott 
from Mexico. 

Washinc#ton, May 8th, 1848. 

Mv Dear General, — Your distinguished services in two wars, and your no less dis- 
tinguished services during the long intervening period of prosperous pence, have 
deservedly won tor you the love and adiniralion of your countrymen. A large portion 
of your fellovv-citiztais, who yield to none in tlie admiration ol your bravery and hu- 
manity in war, as well as of your patriotism and prudence in peace, have been told 
that you favor the principles of the so-called " Native" party. From an extensive cor- 
respondence and acquainiance with citizens of this class, i learn that many ieel grieved 
that such principles should be attributed to you. 

Did they know you, as 1 do, they would see -that great injustice is done you. I know 
your kind and liberal views towards the naturalized citizens, i remember the gratelul 
emotions of my heart when 1 Ihst read the account of your rescuing from Brit:sh 
power and IJritish prisons twenty-two of my countrymen, made prisoners of war while 
fighting under the American tlag. You, sir, was the first to assert and maintain the 
perfect equality of adopted and native citizens. In your recent campaign in Mexico, I 
hope you have found additional motives for recognizing that equality, and that ail the 
adopted citizens vied with each other in braving danger wherever you couimande<l. 

Not for myself, therelore, but for the satisfaction oi others, do I respectfully ask you 
to say whether, after witnessing such lidelity to the flag of their adopted country, by 
soldiers of foreign birth, you are for adding new restrictions to the present system of 
natm-alization ; or whether you are in favor of having the privileges, now enjoyed 
under the Constitution and laws of the country, fairly expounded and lailh fully executed, 
secured to such persona of foreign birth as may wish to become citizens ol the United 
Sldtea ? 

I have the honor to be, sincerely yours, 

Major-General VVinfield Scott. W. E. Robinson. 

REPLY. 

Washington, Jlay 29th, 1848. 

Dear Sir, — fn reply to jour kind letter of the 8th instant, 1 take pleasure in sayijig 
that, grateful for the too partial estimate you place on my public services, you do me 
no more than justice in assinning that I entertain ''kind and liberal views towards our 
naturalized citizens." Certainly it would be impossible for me loi'ecommend or support 
any measure intended to exclude them from a just and full parlicij)ation in all civil and 
political rights now secured to them by our rei)ublican laws and institutions. 

It is true, that in a season of uuusual excitement, some years ago, when both parties 
complained of fraudulent practices in the naturalization of foreigners, and when there 
seemed to be danger that native and adopted citizens would be permaneritiy arrayed 
against each other in hostile lactions, 1 was inclined to concur in tlie ()pinu)n, tiien 
avowed by many leading statesmen, that some modification of the naturi.hzation laws 
might be necessary in order to prevent abuses, allay strile, and restore hiumony between 
the different classes of our people. But later exj.erience and reflection have entirely 
removed this impression, and dissipated my apjjrehensions. 

In my recent campaign in Mexico, a very large proportion of the men under my 
command were yonr countrymen (Irish). Germans, &.C., &.c. I witnessed with atlmira- 
tion their zeal, fidelity, and valor in maintaining our Hag in the face of every danger. 
Vicing with each other anil our native-born soldiers in the same ranks in patriotism^ 
constancy, and heroic daring, 1 was happy to call them brothers in the field, as I 
shall always be to salute them as countrymen at home. 

I remain, dear Su-, with great eateem, yours truly, 

Wm. E. Robinson, Esq. Winfikld Scott. 



A. 3. IJARNBS & COMPANY S PUBLICATIONS. 



Mansfield's Life of General Scott. 



MANSFIELD'S LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 






THE LIFE OF GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT, 

BY EDWARD D. MANSnSJUD. 

' This work gives a full and faithful narrative of the important events 
with which the name and services of General Scott have been con- 
nected. It contains numerous and ample references to all the sources 
and documents from which the facts of the history are drawn. Ulua- 
trated with Maps and Engravings. 12mo. 350 pages. 

From the New York Tribune. 

We have looked through it eufficiently to say with confidence that it is well 
done— a valuable addition to the best of American biographies. Mr. Mansfield 
does his work thoroughly, yet is careful not to overdo it, so that his Life is some- 
thing better than the fulsome panegyrics of which this class of works is too gen- 
erally composed. General Scott has been connected with some of the most 
stirring events in our national history, m\d. the simple recital of his daring deeds 
■warms the blood like wine. We commend this well prmiea volume to general 
perusal. 



From the N. Y. Courier and Enquirer. 

This volume may, both from its design and its execution, be classed among 
what the French appropriately call •* memoirs, to serve the cause of history,'* 
blending, as it necessarily does, with all the attraction of biographical incidents, 
much of the leading events of the time. It is also a contribution to the lund of 
true national glory, that which is made up of the self-sacrificing, meritorious, and 
perilous services, in wnatever career, of the devoted sons of the nation. 



From the U. S. Gazette, {Philadelphia.) 

A beautiful octavo volume, by a gentleman of Cincinnati, contains the above 
welcome history. Among the many biographies of the eminent ofiicers of the 
army, we have found that that of General Scott did not occupy its proper place ; 
but in the " authentic and unimpeachable history" of his eventful life now pre* 
sented, that want is satisfied. 



From the Cleveland (Ohio) Daily Herald. 

We are always rejoiced to see a new book about America, and our country 
men, by an American— especially when that book relates to our history as a na- 
tion, or unrolls those stirring events in which our prominent men, both dead antl 
jliv ng, have been actors. As such we hail with peculiar delight and pride the 
rork now before us ; it has been written by an American hand, and dictated by 
x\merican heart— a heart deeply imbued with a love of his nativs land, Its 
itutioiis, and distinguished men. 

o5 



^ 



NATIONAL SERIES 



OF 



STANDARD SCHOOL BOOKS, 

PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES & CO., 



DAVIES" SYSTEM OF MATHEMATICS. 

DAV[ES' PRIMARY TABLE BOOK. 
DxVVIES' FIRST LESSOXS IN ARITHMETIC. 
DAVIEs' SCHOOL ARITHMETIC. 
KEY TO DAVIES' SCHOOL ARITHMETIC. 
DAVIES' GRAMMAR OF ARITHMETIC. 
DA vies' UNIVERSITY ARITHMETIC. 
KEY TO DAVIES' UNIVERSITY ARITH. 
DAVIES' ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA. 
KEY TO DA vies' ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA. 
DAVIES' ELEMENTARY GEOMETRY. 
DAVIES' PRACTICAL MATHEMATICS. 
DAVIES' bourdon's ALGEBRA. 
DAVIES' LEGENDRe's GEOMETRY. 
DAVIES' ELEMENTS OF SURVEYING. 
DAVIES' ANALYTICAL GEOMETRY. 
DAVIES' DIFF. AND INTEGRAL CALCULUS. 
DAVIES' DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY. 
DAVIES' SHADES, SHADOWS, ETC. 
DA vies' LOGIC OF MATHEMATICS. 



CHAMBERS TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE. 
chambers' NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
chambers' ELEMENTS OF ZOOLOGY. 

Hamilton's elements of physiology. 

page's elements of GEOLOGY. 
REID &. bain's chemistry, ETC. 
CLARK's ELEMENTS OF DRAWING. 



FULTON & EASTMAN S CHIROGR. CHARTS. 
KEY TO FULTON & EASTMAN's CHARTS. 

FULTON A Eastman's writing-books. 
FULTON <fe Eastman's book-keeping. 



parker s juvenile philosophy. 
Parker's first less, in philosophy. 
Parker's school compendium, 
mclntire on the use of the globes, 
gillespie on roads and railroads. 

BARTLETt's NAT. PHIL08. FOR COLLEGES. 



BROOKS FIRST LATIN LESSONS. 
brooks' OVId's METAMORPHOSIS. 
brooks' FIRST GREEK LESSONS. 
brooks' COLLECTANEA EVANGKtiCA. 



SCIENCE OF THE EXG. LANGUAGE. 

Wright's analytical orthography. 
Wright's national spelling-book, 
martin's orthoepist. 
northend's dictation exercises. 
Parker's first school reader. 
Parker's second school reader. 
Parker's third school reader. 
Parker's fourth school reader. 
Parker's rhetorical reader. 
Clark's grammatical chart and key. 
Clark's analysis of eng. language. 
Clark's new English grammar, 
northend's little speaker. 

northend's AMERICAN SPEAKER. 

northend's school dialogues. 



1 



History and Chronology. 

willard's history of the u. states, 
willard's school history of do. 
willard's universal history. 

willard's AMERICAN CHRONOGRAPHER. 

Willard's temple or map of time. 

willard's HISTORIC GUIDE. 
willard's ENGLISH CHRONOGRAPHER. 

Alison's hist, of europe (abridged). 

KINGSLEy's juvenile CHOIR. 
KINGSLEY's young ladies' HARP. 

kingsley's sacred harmonist. 

SCHOOL song AND HYMN BOOK. 
SABBATH SCHOOL GEMS. (Music.) 



THEODORE THINKER S BOTANY. 

WATTS ON THE MIND (with questioDs). ^^ 

DUNNING's ANCIENT AND CLASS. GEOG. 



For the Teachers' Iiibrary. 

page's THEORY A PRAC. OF TEACHING. 
MANSFIELD ON AMERICAN EDUCATION. 
DE TOCQUEVILLE ON AM. INSTITUTIONS. 
BARNARD ON SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 






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